


A Plausible Ending

by JustNeededAUsername



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Cartson, Case Fic, Closure, F/M, Finding the keyhole for the Arena Club pen, Fluff, Gen, Plans For The Future, Plausible ending, Wrapping everything up nicely, possible ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:55:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 26,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25879288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustNeededAUsername/pseuds/JustNeededAUsername
Summary: A suggestion for the missing ending of Agent Carter
Relationships: Peggy Carter & Jack Thompson, Peggy Carter/Jack Thompson
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	1. No Rest for the Wicked

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everybody,
> 
> Welcome to my first ever fanfiction – Yes, that was meant as a warning :)  
> I have never felt the need to write a fanfiction before, though I have been a huge fan of many of the stories written in here, both for Agent Carter and other great shows.
> 
> However, the abrupt ending of Agent Carter has haunted me for some time, and when I watched the series again, it got my imagination running, and I felt a need to try to collect the loose ends.
> 
> Before starting, you have to know that this story is very much inspired by all of the fan theories and fanfictions of the should-have-been 3rd season of the series, so I do not think of this as an original story, but as my attempt to connect the dots that other people have already pointed out. Therefore, I also take advantage of some of the great story lines that other people have written even though making it fit this story. Therefore, I would like to thank you all for your inspiration. 
> 
> I wish that I had the talent for a better and more detailed story in terms of the agent/detective story part. I would have loved to write a lot of action – enough to fill a new season – but I honestly cannot write it properly, so instead I have tried to make what could be a 1½ hour addition to the 2nd season to give it a proper ending, focusing on getting the relations between the characters right and solving the cliff-hangers.
> 
> Like I said, I have tried connecting the dots, but if there is something that I have missed or misunderstood, please DO NOT let me know, as I would just feel the need to change the entire story, and I don’t think I could bear it! ;)
> 
> I have written an afterword with a few of the considerations I had while writing the story, just as an added “bonus”.
> 
> Without further ado – Please enjoy my suggestion for an ending for the amazing Agent Carter.
> 
> P.S. of course I do not own Agent Carter. If I did, it would be running on its 10th season :) Plus, most chapter titles are borrowed from song titles or lyrics, no copy right infringement intended on that part either, just love the songs!
> 
> UPDATE 2018.07.22: I don’t know if anyone is notified when I update existing chapters, but I have just read this story again and found a lot of spelling errors that I decided to correct. No changes to the story, just spelling.
> 
> UPDATE 2020.09.22: Apparently, I cannot read an old fanfic without making some updates/corrections. Again, no changes to the story.

For a while they just sat there, looking into each other’s eyes, seeing the reflection of their own happiness in the eyes of the other, and the slight disbelief of the situation they were in.

“Does this mean… that you are staying?” Daniel asked carefully, afraid of the answer.

Peggy looked away from him for a moment, commitment not coming easy to her. But this, whatever it might be, had been lingering in the air for so long, so how could she not give it a try.

“I still have a few vacation days – well, weeks – left,” She answered.

That was all he needed for now. He pushed the phone towards her with a smile.

“Sounds like you have a plane to cancel,” He said, and watched as she gladly picked up the handset and called the New York office. He was surprised that she stayed sitting in his lap as she usually was not very fond of being caught in stereotypical patterns; The damsel caught on the lap of her boss. Maybe she stayed because she knew that he had never seen her as a secretary, but hopefully because she stayed because she enjoyed being close to him, just as much as he wanted to be close to her.

As Peggy put down the handset, she could not remember the last time she had felt so light, the weight of the world momentarily having left her shoulders.

She smiled down at Daniel, who smiled back, and then she closed the distance between them once more. He held her tighter, as if still not believing this was happening.

It had been a long time coming for both of them, and the anticipation that they had both been building up was expressed in every movement that their bodies made towards each other, and in every fiery kiss.

A hard knock on the door made Peggy jump off of Daniels lap, facing away from the door while quickly recovering her composure and trying to correct her lipstick with the reflection of the window. Before Daniel could allow entrance to his office, the door was swung open, a younger, frantic looking agent standing in the door.

“Agent O’Neill, what the…” Daniel started scolding the agent when he was cut off.

“Chief Thompson has been shot.”

Peggy instantly turned to face the young agent and Daniel stood up.

“What?” Daniel exclaimed, feeling a cold hand grip his insides at what he had just heard.

“Chief Thompson has been shot,” Agent O’Neill repeated.

“When? Where?” Peggy demanded to know.

“Like, ten minutes ago. At his hotel,” Agent O’Neill elaborated, “The hotel staff found him. He was supposed to be out of his room, so they came to kick him out, and he just laid there. Shot. He’s being taken to the hospital right now. But it’s bad.”

The weight came tumbling back onto Peggy’s shoulders. She looked at Daniel and saw a mirror image of her own confusion.

“Let’s go,” Daniel said, grapping his crutch.

“You go to the hospital, I’ll go check out the scene while it’s still fresh,” Peggy stated and stomped out of the office.

For a second, Daniel felt like reprimanding her for giving him orders instead of taking them, but he agreed with her priorities and knew that he could not hold her back.

“Does anyone else know?” Daniel asked the young agent still lingering at the door.

“No sir, I came straight to you,” O’Neill answered.

“Good. Keep it that way,“ Daniel said and quickly added “Go with her. Hurry!”

“Oh, right, yes sir!” O’Neill answered and quickly ran after Peggy.

Daniel followed behind them. He looked around the office, trying to figure out whether to include more agents, but with everything that they had uncovered since Peggy came to L.A., his instincts told him to keep it at a minimum for as long as possible. He would have to call the New York office. They would expect Jack’s arrival back in the office tomorrow, but he had to know what to tell them before making the call. Hopefully, he would be able to joke with them that Jack had just gotten into trouble to prolong his stay here in sunny California, instead of having to ask them to make that call to Jack’s family.


	2. The Longest Day

O’Neill had been eager to learn from the infamous Agent Carter, but he could clearly feel that she was not up for a Q&A at the moment. She seemed both anxious and extremely focused at the same time, and he could not help but to admire her. He had heard a lot about her, and most of his male colleagues thought that she was just getting by due to her association with Captain America. But he could tell that there was more to her.

They were greeted by the local police on site, and Peggy quickly instructed O’Neill to collect witness statements while determinately walking towards the open door down the hall. An officer was standing by the door, supposedly taking notes, though looking as if he did not know what to write down. As she came closer, he looked up and raised his hand to stop her.

“Miss, stand back, this is not something for a woman to see. If your room is down the hall…”

Peggy kept her pace and flashed her SSR ID.

“Agent Peggy Carter with the SSR, stand back,” she said sternly.

The officer stared at the ID and took a step back, almost as if he was afraid to be run down by the woman approaching him.

Peggy did not slow down until she turned to face the room.

The first thing she saw was the massive blood stain on the carpet. It was glistening, the blood still fresh.

She had to mentally slap herself to look away, reminding herself that no matter what was going on in the hospital, the priority would be to catch whoever did this as quickly as possible.

She looked at the door. Room 208. No scratches around the key hole from the lock being picked. No signs of forced entry. No peephole in the door. She looked to the bed where the open briefcase was still waiting to be closed. A jacket was laying next to the case, the handle of a gun just showing underneath the grey fabric. The radio was playing soft jazz. Jack must not have heard anything suspicious outside the door to make him turn the music down. He had not had a reason to pull his gun. He had most likely let the assailant in himself.

The blood pool was close to the door. Jack had not even had time to reach for his gun. Everything must have happened really fast.

Peggy pulled on a pair of gloves that she always kept in her purse in case of emergencies and stepped into the room and started opening every drawer and cabinet. She checked under the bed. All empty. She quickly looked over the contents of the briefcase. Nothing looked out of place, the briefcase only containing clothes, shoes, toothbrush and similar necessities.

Either the assailant had taken something she would not be able to recognize as missing, or this had been a simple hit. No doubt, Jack could have made some dangerous enemies during his power play the last couple of weeks, but she could not think of anyone who would benefit from his death.

Hopefully, Jack would be able to clarify matters himself. She felt a sting at the thought; Hopefully.

Lastly, she checked the windows. All locked from the inside. However, they were turned towards the street, making it possible for the assailant to spot Jack from there instead of having to ask the clerk in the reception for a room number.

Peggy left the room, satisfied that nothing more was to be found there. She looked up and down the hall. The officer was still standing by the door, looking puzzled, still unsure whether it was right for a woman to be at a crime scene or not.

“Is there anything you can tell me?” She asked him.

“Uhm…” He weighted his options. As she shot him a look of cold determination, he continued; “No, uhm… But there is a fire escape down the hall. We think he came in there, cause no one in the reception saw him.”

Peggy could not help herself as she whispered; “Or her”, knowing very well that there might be a woman out there who would enjoy being behind this.

She looked over her shoulder and called out to Agent O’Neill, who quickly came running towards her.

“Not much from the statements,” he told her as she started leading the way down the hallway, “The clerk went up to kick Jack out of his room and found the door open. He called the cops and they called us when they found his batch. Luckily, both the hospital and the police station are close by, so it all went quickly. No one has seen anyone coming to or from the room.”

“They think the assailant came in by the fire escape,” She stated as they turned the corner to find the door going outside. She turned the handle, and the door opened for them. She looked at the door and surrounding metal platform. No traces of blood or similar. Most likely, the assailant had not touched or been anywhere nearer the body than from where he took the shot.

They crawled down the metal ladder, down to the alley below. The room had only been on the second floor. It was easy to enter and exit.

“Whoever this was, they were good.” Peggy stated with worry underlining her statement.

-.-.-.-.-.-

When Peggy and O’Neill arrived at the hospital, they found Daniel standing as firm as a statue, looking into an operating room. It looked as if he had been standing there since he had gotten to the hospital. Peggy knew it was not always easy for him to stand for too long, his prosthetic leg not being the most comfortable support for his weight. Of course, he had never mentioned this to anyone, but she could tell by how he would often adjust his crutch and put his weight on his good leg. For him to be doing it for so long spoke volumes of his concern. But though it worried her, she could not blame him. She would have done the same.

Daniel did not have to look at them as he could always recognise the familiar clicking of Peggy’s heels on the floor. With every click, she got closer, and he somehow felt more at ease just knowing that she was near him. He felt useless. Standing. Watching. Waiting. Standing. Watching. Waiting. Maybe Peggy could bring him something that he could act on.

“Did you find anything?” He asked when the clicking placed Peggy within hearing range.

“Not really,” She answered, obviously disappointed. She quickly went over the findings of their investigation, summarising; “So, we could really need a statement from our main witness.”

She tried to keep her tone light, as if there was no question whether Thompson would make it or not. Daniel lowered his head at this, hiding a small smile at her confidence. However, he did not miss the hidden question as to the status of the man in the room next door. He then took in a breath and looked away from the operating room for the first time since the doctor left him at the observation window.

“The bullet hit very close to his heart. The doctors are not sure… if he will be giving a statement” Daniel kept in line with the analogy.

Peggy placed her hands at her sides and looked away from Daniel, looking into the operating room for the first time. There was not much to see, his face facing away from them and most of his body covered in white sheets, except for the spot at his chest painted red, where the doctors were working on saving his life.

She knew that this job would always be dangerous, both for her and her colleagues. But just one and a half hour ago, she had felt something good beginning, something that would make the sacrifices of the last case worth it. But the world just left off where it had ended, and now one of her… Well, she did not really know where to place Jack Thompson right now. He was her boss and a pain in her tail but by the end of the last case, she would almost have classified him as a friend. She had meant it when she had said that he was a good man, and there was no way in hell that she was going to let him go down like this.

Daniel could see how thoughts were passing through Peggy’s mind as she went from frustration to determination. He wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms and hold her. To help her be strong, and for her to help him be the same. But he knew that she would not have it. Though their slowly building relationship had taken a huge leap forward, it felt awkward and he did not know how to move forward with it now. Plus, there was an anxious, young agent standing next to them, patiently awaiting orders.

“O’Neill, go grab some coffee for all of us,” Daniel said, “This is going to take a while.”

O’Neill gladly took the task upon him, just wanting something else to do than being the third wheel to the two senior agents.

As soon as O’Neill was out of sight, Daniel extended his arm to Peggy, not moving closer, but trying to establish some of the connection that they had earlier. He touched her shoulder, rubbing his thumb soothingly over her soft blouse.

“You know that we are not going to get rid of him this easily,” He said lightly.

Peggy could not help the small laugh that left her lips, releasing her of some of the tension that she had felt. She looked back at Daniel and lifted her hand to hold his that was still resting on her shoulder. She smiled at him, and Daniel was relieved to feel a bit of their intimacy returning despite the circumstances.

“This was not the idea I had for the day,” He said in a low voice.

“When I woke up this morning, I thought I would be on my way back to New York by now. Things change quickly,” She answered, her smile telling him that she was not just referring to the incident with Thompson.

Before he could answer, she quickly pulled back her hand, pushing his away at the same time. For a moment, he did not understand what had changed, until a moment later O’Neill came around the corner, carrying three cups of coffee. Daniel was impressed by how Peggy had caught on to his approaching, though he could no longer be surprised by her abilities. He respected her for not wanting to show affections towards him in front of their colleague, though he was pretty sure that O’Neill had already put two and two together earlier this morning. He would expect as much from one of his agents.

“I didn’t know how you wanted your coffee, so I just kept it black, and I don’t know about you, but I could use it strong anyway,” O’Neill started handing them the coffee and when his one hand was free, he reached into his jacket pocket and took out a handful of small cookies wrap in a napkin and proudly stated; “Aaaand, as a bonus, the nice nurse gave me these – She baked them herself.”

Peggy and Daniel both declined the cookies, but O’Neill happily took a couple for himself. They stood in silence, watching the doctors and nurses work. Peggy could feel O’Neill getting uneasy again.

“What is it, Agent O’Neill?” She asked, not taking her eyes off the operating room.

“Well… This is a big thing, a Chief getting shot,” O’Neill shuffled nervously, “Why haven’t we involved anyone else? What about the New York office?”

Peggy and Daniel exchanged a look, trying to evaluate how much to involve O’Neill in. Peggy could not find anything that indicated that they could not trust O’Neill, but it was hard to know nowadays. On the other hand, they would probably need help, so they had to decide to trust someone.

Peggy gave Daniel a small nod of approval, and Daniel stepped towards O’Neill.

“Like you said, this is a big thing. Someone who has a reason or who is desperate enough to go after an SSR Chief must have some really bad connections or be really bad themselves. We cannot let anyone know what we know and we have to play this smart. I will call New York but not until we know more. Preferably, Jack will tell us who did this, so we are sure that we are not calling anyone in New York who would want to come back and finish the job.”

“But, aren’t they expecting him in New York later?” O’Neill asked.

“Planes can be missed,” Peggy interrupted, “But if Jack does not check in with the office to inform them, they will get suspicious. I doubt we have more than 24 hours before they would expect him in the office.”

The three of them stood and looked between each other, the severity of the situation hanging heavily in the air.

“Is there really nothing we can do?” O’Neill asked.

“We don’t have anything to go on,” Daniel answered.

“Well, you said it earlier, Daniel,” Peggy said, “We are not getting rid of Jack this easily, so all we have to do is wait for him to wake up with that stupid grin on his face and tell us who to arrest.”


	3. All Night Doctors

Five hours later, they were finally allowed to see Jack. All three of them were tired. No one became an agent just to sit around. Unfortunately, none of them could come up with any leads to pursue, and without admitting it, they were all too worried about Jack to leave the hospital.

Jack was pale from the blood loss, but the surgery had been a success. The doctors had called him ‘one hell of a stubborn bastard’, which they could only confirm.

“Okay, it’s getting late,” Daniel said, after they had all been standing by the footboard of Jack’s bed for too long, “We should probably establish a roster. Peggy, take the first shift. I will come in at midnight, and O’Neill will come in at six in the morning. Understood?”

With that, O’Neill wished them a good night and left them alone in the room, besides the sleeping Jack. Daniel stayed back, and as soon as O’Neill’s steps were out of hearing range, he asked; “Are you okay?”

Peggy gave him a weak smile and stepped closer to him, which he took advantage of by closing his arms around her, enjoying how she for a small moment let herself show a bit of weakness. Even though it was not real weakness, but that was how she would perceive it. It was only human to be tired and unnerved, and even though she acted like an amazon, human was all she was.

Peggy pulled back, holding his arms to keep a distance; “I’m okay, and so will Jack be. Now go home and get some rest. I want you fresh and awake at midnight.”

As soon as she said the words, they both realised how it could be misinterpreted and they burst into shy smiles. Daniel quickly glanced at Jack, knowing he would not have left a comment like that hanging. In any other situation, he would have appreciated the quiet, but right now he would had given anything for a smug remark. Daniel quickly changed the subject.

“What about you? Where will you be staying?” He asked.

“Oh… Well, I guess I better call Mr. Jarvis,” She reasoned and gestured at the phone in the room.

“Yes, of course,” Daniel answered, “Well, then have a good watch.”

Daniel gave her a small kiss, immediately regretting it, as it only left him wanting more. But not now. Instead he left her, slightly worried something would happen, though confident that she would be able to handle anything coming at her.

As soon as Daniel left the room, Peggy dropped down in the chair next to the telephone. It had been a rollercoaster of a day. She had gone from feeling cold and collected on her way home to New York, to feeling light and fluffy on Daniel’s lap, and then hit by a bucket of ice that the news about Jack had been, and back to calm and collected as the agent that she had to be on this case. Yet her concern for Jack made being calm and collected difficult. Not having anything to do, anything to hit, made dealing with all the different feelings difficult.

At least now she could make a phone call, a small action that was better than no action.

She smiled as she heard the familiar voice of her friend.

“Hello, Mr. Jarvis.”

“Ah, Miss Carter. Have you returned safely to New York?”

“Not quite, Mr. Jarvis. I am still in Los Angeles. There has been an incident that has required me to stay.”

“Oh, a certain Chief Sousa, perhaps?” Mr. Jarvis guessed and she could hear the smug smile in his voice.

“No… Well, yes, but no. Chief Thompson has been hurt. I am currently in the hospital keeping an eye on him.”

“Oh my, is he alright?”

“He will be,” She said with certainty, “However, I will need a place to stay until we have solved this case.”

“Your room will be awaiting you, Miss Carter,” Mr. Jarvis said quickly, “Do you need anything at the hospital?”

“No, I will be okay for tonight. However, my suitcases are still at the office.”

“No trouble, when are you done at the hospital?”

“At midnight.”

“Good. I will come pick you up and then we will swing by the office and pick up your suitcases.”

“Thank you, Mr. Jarvis,” Peggy smiled into the handset.

“Anytime, Miss Carter. Ana will be thrilled to have you back,” Mr. Jarvis answered sincerely, “See you at midnight, Miss Carter.”

They hung up, and the room became silent. She looked out the window, the sun still shining brightly. It felt like a whole day should had passed already, yet it still had eight hours to go. Maybe she should have asked Mr. Jarvis to bring a book to the hospital, but she did not want to inconvenient him. She also doubted how much she would read with everything going on in her head.

She looked towards Jack. She thought he looked a bit better, maybe a bit more colour in his cheeks. Maybe she was just being hopeful.

Maybe she should have asked Daniel to stay, though it would have been a bit odd being with Daniel in front of Jack, unconscious or not. It was probably a good idea to move forward slowly. There was no doubt some build up tension between them. But she had just had Dr Wilkes in her life as well, however briefly, and though that door was closed, it still felt hurried to jump so quickly from one to the other. Especially since there had been no one in the picture since Steve. Hell, no one had even gotten close to the wall that the picture was hanging on. The thought made her both happy and sad. She had said her goodbyes to Steve and now she was walking the walk, and it felt good.

Peggy sat there for yet another couple of hours. The cookie-baking nurse came with more coffee and cookies, and Peggy appreciated the renewed energy though she could not wait to have one of Mr. Jarvis’s excellent cups of English tea.

The sky was making the transition from orange to blue, and she only had another three hours of the shift, when she finally heard a sound from the bed. She jolted from the chair and stood by the side of the bed.

“Jack?” she asked, but he stayed quiet. He had probably just been dreaming but she could not help trying to provoke a reaction by keep talking, “Jack, pull yourself together. You cannot just lay there and do nothing. You have an office to run, dammit.”

She stood there for a bit longer, hoping that a bit of insults could get him going, but still nothing. She went back to the chair, but decided to pull it closer to the bed, hoping to hear if he were to say anything else during his sleep, maybe something about the assailant.

The nurse came and went again, this time also bringing a newspaper for entertainment. Maybe Peggy should just ask her if she could make tea instead of the bitter coffee. However, with two hours to go, tea could wait. She started reading through the paper, finding an article regarding the rumour of Whitney Frost being in an asylum and the many theories as to why she was there, the main theory being the death of her husband having driven her mad with grief.

“Is this how you spend your holidays?” A ruff voice asked, and Peggy jolted up to look at a very tired Jack Thompson, yet with his smirk weakly in place.

“Oh no, you owe me for looking after your lazy rear,” she replied with a smile, feeling relief stream through her, “How are you feeling?”

“Like morphine is a guy’s best friend,” he answered, coughing lightly but quickly stopping as it obviously hurt him. Peggy quickly grabbed the glass of water and helped him drinking from it.

“Thanks,” he answered, his voice already better, and she smiled in answer.

“I will go get the doctor so he can check up on you, but I need to know who did this, Jack. Do you remember?” She asked.

Jack sighed, lifting his hand to scratch as his chest, though quickly changing his mind when he thought it through, and instead rubbed his temples.

“Erhm… It was a guy. Nice suit. Never seen him before,” he answered.

Peggy tried not to hide her disappoint and instead tried to help him remember by prompting; “Did he say anything or take anything?”

“No. He didn’t say anything. And I think I blacked out before I hit the floor. Anything missing from my stuff?” he asked.

“Not as far as I could tell,” And then an idea dawned upon her, “But I will pick up all your things tomorrow and then you can take a look yourself.”

“Good,” He just answered.

He looked her in the eye, still with a smirk, but looking sadder than when he had just woken up.

“Didn’t think I would be seeing the light of day again,” He admitted quietly. He and Peggy had a certain confidence after the trip to Russia, so it felt natural to tell her, “You know, the stuff they say about your life flashing before your eyes. I only remember thinking something like; ‘Please, not now’.”

He kept her gaze and she smiled at him. She knew exactly what he meant.

“It’s not now, Jack,” She said still smiling, “Weeds do not perish that easily.”


	4. Shall We Be Grateful

Peggy gratefully put her head on the pillow. She had not remembered it being so soft.

The doctor had said that everything looked fine though Jack of course still needed rest. He had drifted off shortly after the doctor’s visit and a new dose of morphine.

Daniel had been half an hour early. Peggy told him about what Jack had said and her plan for tomorrow, and they had shared a small goodnight kiss.

Mr. Jarvis had been on time, and as the perfect butler he was, he had brought a thermos of tea, suspecting the selection of the hospital might have been limited. They had made a quick stop at the office, her suitcases being kept behind Rose’s desk for easy pickup.

Peggy tried to sort her thoughts. Some involved her slowly blooming relationship with Daniel. She was starting to wonder if something was wrong since she thought about it so much, and if it would influence her work. But then again, she had not been in a relationship for a long time, so a few nerves were to be expected. Yet, the knot of awkwardness in her stomach did not seem to want to go away. She had been happy when she kissed him. To finally kiss him. But the moment had been spoiled by the events of the day.

Other thoughts involved Jack and how happy she was that he was okay. She was not in the mood for losing any more good people. She thought about his words, about how he had thought that this was the end. She felt ice stream through her at the thought, but it was quickly replaced by the warmth of relieve that he had been wrong. But he usually was, so there was no reason to be surprised by that. She was so glad that he was okay, jackass or not, she did not want to lose him.

She closed her eyes and let sleep take her over, her last thoughts going out to whoever had tried to kill her Chief; _I am not losing any more Chiefs. So, whoever you are, I’m coming for you. And I hope you will underestimate me, because that’s when I can hit you the hardest_.


	5. Something from Nothing

Peggy had awoken as soon as the sun had hit her face, the instant thought of the current case filling her with adrenaline. She had a quick breakfast, Mr. Jarvis already up and cooking. They left to go to the crime scene to pick up all of Jack’s belongings. The police had been instructed to hand over the case to the SSR, and the room had been left untouched since her investigation with O’Neill the day before as no other agents had been involved yet. Mr. Jarvis helped her carry the suitcase to the car, never letting a lady carry heavy objects, and brought them into the Hospital.

As they stepped into the hospital room, they found O’Neill in the chair where she had left it last night and Jack was awake in the bed, looking much better than the night before with more colour in his cheeks and a big smile on his face. O’Neill stood up when they entered and took the few things that Peggy had been allowed to carry; Jack’s jacket and hat.

“’Morning Marge. Mr. Jarvis,” Jack greeted, lifting an invisible hat from his head as a welcome.

“Good morning, Chief Thompson. You seem to be doing well despite the circumstances,” Mr. Jarvis greeted politely though curtly.

“Well, I have my own personal bodyguards to look after me. I have the cutest, little nurses bringing me everything I ask. And now I have all my belonging without even lifting a finger,” Jack listed his benefits with his usual smug attitude.

“As I said yesterday; weed,” Peggy said while giving Jack a look to remind him of the gratitude he should be expressing instead of the arrogance. It did not seem to work.

Peggy pulled a table closer to the bed and started putting his things on the table, one after the other while Jack said confirming noises in recognition of the items. Lastly, she threw his hat on top of the pile.

“It all looks surprisingly normal, Jack,” she joked, “Nothing seems to be missing, or what?”

As she looked up at Jack, she could see that he was thinking something.

“What?” She asked.

“The file. The one for M. Carter that I showed you. I had it with me,” He said.

“So that must have been what the assailant came for,” Peggy stated, but then turned to Jack, “Why did you still have it?”

“Vernon left it in his briefcase, so I decided to take it so no one else would find it. I thought it was a fake, so I didn’t want it to incriminate you. Plus, I thought it was still quite interesting,” Jack admitted.

Peggy looked away for a moment, thankful and a little embarrassed by his unexpected thoughtfulness.

Jack added, “I found it at the same time as the Arena pen, when I figured out it was a key.”

“So maybe it is related to the Council…” Peggy though out loud, “This is getting interested. Tell me how you acquired the file.”

“Well, Vernon…” Jack scratched the side of his neck while searching for the right word, “… _advised_ me to find something that could get you out of the game...”

Jack looked away from Peggy, feeling embarrassed and thinking how it all seemed ridiculous now. How come it had been so hard for him to trust her, even with how she had handled the Leviathan case? Had he really let the pursue of power overpower his own judgement that much? He had trusted her with his biggest secret in Russia. And now, even though he had worked against her on the Isodyne case, here she was, ready to help find his assailant. What a fool he had been.

“And what happened next?” Jack’s thoughts were interrupted by the impatience of Peggy Carter.

“I made contact to an old friend of mine, a guy that I went to Cornell with. He’s English, and works with MI5. Knowing that you also worked there, I thought he could dig up your file. Hoping it would contain some information to get you off the Isodyne case,” Jack quickly told.

There was a moment of silence, where Peggy was in deep thought, Jack tried to avoid eye contact with Peggy, and O’Neill looked excitedly back and forth between the two.

“I have to say, Chief Thompson, that you are completely undeserving of the assistance that Miss Carter has provided for you and the SSR since her arrival in New York,” Mr. Jarvis broke the silence.

All eyes turned to the butler.

“Mr. Jarvis, that was unnecessary,” Peggy said, trying to break the uncomfortable atmosphere, though deeply grateful for his words.

“On the contrary, Miss Carter. It is about time that Chief Thompson realises your worth,” Mr. Jarvis sent Jack a stern look and then softened his look as he turned back to Peggy, “Miss Carter, I will leave you to your case. Please call me if you need even the slightest. I will be at home, taking care of Ana.”

Mr. Jarvis bid them goodbye and left the room, Peggy glad to see that he had realised to put his wife before the case, at least for now. Silence fell over the room again.

Then a sudden thought struck her.

“Wait here a minute,” She said and left the room, Jack’s story having given her an idea.

O’Neill and Jack looked at each other, none of them saying anything. Neither knew what to say after Mr. Jarvis’ dramatic exit, followed by Peggy’s secretive one.

A few minutes later, Peggy came back into the room. Nothing seemingly changed about her, though she seemed oddly pleased with herself.

“So, everything still leads back to the Council. What are they up to?” Peggy wondered out loud as if she had never left the room.

“Obviously something with power,” Jack stated, earning a look from Peggy that translated to ‘You don’t say’. Jack was just happy to be moving on from the speech from Mr. Jarvis.

“Whitney Frost took out most of the Council but there are plenty of rich men out there willing to take their places,” Peggy said, mostly thinking out loud, “This means that there is also a risk of agents in the SSR being involved. We have to keep this to ourselves for now.”

She then turned to O’Neill and said; “Agent O’Neill, the Arena Club and the Council do not know your face. Could you swing by the club and look out for any activity. It would probably be too suspicious if I went to look around a gentlemen’s club. But be careful, keep a distance. Unfortunately, it is the best we can do for now.”

“But, I am supposed to watch Chief Thompson…” O’Neill stated, remembering the orders of his actual superior.

“I will call Chief Sousa when he has had some sleep and let him know of the change of plans. Meanwhile, I will stay and look after Chief Thompson,” Peggy stated matter-of-factly.

“I can take care of myself-” Jack started but was cut off by Peggy.

“Yes, you are perfectly capable of fighting off a trained assassin in your current state. I will just be here to enjoy the show,” She said sarcastically.

Jack crossed his arms, quickly loosening them again as it pulled at the stitches.

Meanwhile, O’Neill bid them goodbye and went to keep an eye on the Arena Club.

“Now you just have to call the New York office and tell them that you will not be coming in,” Peggy said and placed the phone on the table by the bed.

“What should I tell them?” Jack asked, gesturing to his hospital bed, obviously not being able to tell them the truth when not knowing who to trust.

“Well, you are so smart Chief Thompson, you will surely think of something,” Peggy answered, playing dumb.

Jack picked up the phone and called the New York office, all the while Peggy waited by the bed.

“Yeah, I will not be coming back to the office today anyway,” She heard him explain, “Well, Sousa asked me to stay, needing some pointers on how to run an office, you know… Yeah, poor thing… So, you girls take care until I get back, okay?”

Peggy closed her eyes and her mouth tightened at the degrading reason that Jack came up with. As Jack put down the phone, she pointedly asked; “Was that the best that you could come up with?”

“The best that would not get agents interested in coming down here, yeah,” Jack answered coldly.

“Unless any of them expected you to be dead,” Peggy couldn’t help to snap back at him.


	6. Human

Peggy hated that she could not go to the Arena Club, but she knew that her current plan of action was the smarter one. Honestly, she also felt better looking after Jack herself, or when Daniel did it, still finding it hard to trust Agent O’Neill, even if he seemed alright. They had to come to a point where they could trust their own organization or all would be lost. Of course, they also had Rose and Dr Samberly. But all in all, it would be easier when Jack was back on his feet, able to take care of himself. Hopefully, by keeping this on the low, the assailant would think that he had succeeded and not come looking to finish the job.

“Carter,” Thompson said from the bed, gaining her attention, “You could at least entertain me while you are here. O’Neill brought cards.”

Peggy sent him a forced smile, moving her chair closer to the table to pick up the cards and shuffle.

“Well, I might as well earn a few extra quid for my holiday for when all of this is over,” She said, challenging him.

“What’s your game?” Jack asked, taking the bait.

“Poker,” she stated, and so they played poker.

-.-.-.-.-.-

They only played a few games before Jack needed a new dose of pain medication which knocked him out. Peggy was left three dollars richer, reading the book that she had been foresighted to bring for the day.

When lunch came along, she decided to call Daniel, hoping that he had had enough sleep. He answered after one call, obviously on his toes despite catching some sleep.

“Good morning Daniel. I hope I did not wake you too early,” Peggy said.

“Peggy,” Daniel said, still a bit sleepy but obviously glad to hear her voice.

“I just wanted to let you know that I have made a few changes to the plan,” Peggy told him about the file and her continuous suspicion towards the Council, finishing by saying “I think that it is all that we can do right now. Maybe we can observe someone who could be the assailant or something else interesting.”

Daniel could hear her frustration due to not being able to do more at the time. They were very limited in what they could do towards the Council right now, all their leads being killed or gone insane during the zero matter case. However, right now the priority was to keep Jack safe. The club could wait a few days until they had a more solid plan. Though they were all people of action, they had to remember to keep their heads cold when a case turned difficult, like now. It also meant that they could take a bit of time for something else.

“So, what about if I come by this afternoon, and then O’Neill can take the evening shift. Then, maybe, we could go out for dinner before I take the night shift with Jack?” Daniel suggested.

Peggy smiled at the other end of the phone.

“That sounds nice. And we do need to eat despite the case,” Peggy answered, very much interested in the date but also a bit worried, as the situation always seemed to turn for the worse when she allowed herself a personal life, but she would never have a personal life if she did not try at least.

“That’s… That’s a date, then,” Daniel said.

“A date,” Peggy confirmed, before putting down the handset. For a moment, she just stood there with a smile on her face, not quite believing that they might get a shot at a date after all.

“So… Sousa finally pulled himself together,” Jack’s sleepy voice said from the bed, “Took him long enough.”

Peggy instantly felt her cheeks turn red, choosing not to look up at Jack in the bed. But there was no point in denying it now.

“Well, Daniel is the perfect gentleman, not that it is any of your business,” She tried to cut him off.”

“One thing is being a gentleman. Another is being too afraid to do want you want and never get it done,” Jack said, surprising Peggy with his answer.

“Surely, you do not have that problem. You always act before thinking,” Peggy stated, taking a cheap shot, uncomfortable with the subject and hoping to shut Jack up.

For a moment she thought it worked, but then Jack said; “Not always. Even I think too much sometimes.”

Peggy finally looked up at him, seeing an unfamiliar look in his eyes. For a second, they just looked at each other until Jack broke the spell with his smirk and arrogant voice; “Plus, I am your superior. A relationship within the SSR, between two agents. That’s new. We might have to make some ground rules.”

Peggy instantly felt anger rising within her as she warned him; “Chief Thompson, don’t you dare share this with the office. Not yet. Or I will supply you with yet another breathing hole.”

Jack let out a laugh, and was yet again reminded that laughing still hurt, and then said with more sincerity than Peggy had ever heard; “Don’t worry, Peggy. I won’t stand between yours and Sousa’s happiness.”

That made her heart skip a beat.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Jack cursed viciously as Peggy won his last dollar.

“I am more and more happy with having picked up your belongings this morning – Especially your wallet,” Peggy said with a devilish smile as she collected the cards and put them in a neat pile on the table.

“Who taught you to play poker like that?” Jack asked, obviously unhappy with the results.

Peggy wondered for a moment if she should tell him or not, but the look in his eyes was – despite being irritated with losing his money – curious to learn about her. Something that she was not used to from her colleagues.

“From my father,” she said, a smile appearing on her face, “He used to play once a week down at the local pub. I was curious as to what they were doing, so since he had the choice between either telling me about how they were playing cards or how they were downing pints, he chose the cards.”

Jack let out a small laugh at that, surprised that it hurt a little less than earlier. He looked over her face as she told the story, surprised and happy to see a much softer woman than he was used to.

“He taught me many different card games. It sort of became our thing. Later, I hardly ever paid for my own drinks at the pub, the men always thinking they could outplay me. It also came in very handy during the war. I was never short of money,” She came out of her remembrance of the old times, looking up at Jack and realising that she had his full attention. He had a soft smile on his face, just watching her telling her story.

“You know,” He said softly, “You are normally so cold and dismissive that it is odd actually seeing you like a real girl…”

Peggy was about to protest at this but got cut off by Jack correcting himself.

“…No, not a girl. A real person. The only time I remember you being this human was when you told us about Steve Rogers’ blood. Or in Russia, when I told you my story. It’s okay to be yourself sometimes, you know? It’s a nice change,” Jack finished.

“No, it is not,” Peggy said sadly, “The moment I let my guard down in the office, I am just a girl, one that has to be protected and saved and take coffee orders – And God forbid if I burn myself on the coffee machine. I am an agent just as capable as the rest of you, but I can never be human like the rest of you.”

Jack looked away, deep down realising that he was one of the major reasons for this. It made him glad to see her like this and he wished to see it more often. But he knew that she could not, especially not as long as most men acted like he himself did. Until now.

“Peggy,” He said, instantly gaining her attention by using her real name, “I promise that I will do my best to trust you in the future. Mr. Jarvis was right, you surely have earned it by now. But you are not making it easy, acting on your own and acting recklessly. I think you also have some trusting to learn.”

Before Peggy could find an answer, there was a knock at the door, Daniel standing there with a smile on his face though with an odd look in his eyes.


	7. Simple Man

O’Neill sat in the bar opposite of the Arena Club. He could not help feeling that Agent Carter had sent him away because she did not trust him. But he wanted her to, so if he had to sit outside the Arena Club for the next year to gain her trust, he would.

He had grown up with only his mother, so he was not unused to strong women, and knew that most women were capable of much more than what most men would give them credit for. Peggy Carter was clearly such a woman, and even though the other men could not see it, she was clearly in control.

He had secretly enjoyed the speech that Mr. Jarvis had given Chief Thompson. If just half of the rumours about what Peggy Carter had been involved in were true, she should receive a lot more recognition. But he did not dare to say anything in the bullpen. He smiled sadly to himself. He was apparently not as brave as his mother had been.

People passed by on the streets, going who-knows-where in the world, nothing looking out of place, and no one coming in or out of the club. He left the bar to take a round of the block and settled in a restaurant in another street, still able to see if there were any activities by the front of the building, but especially what happened down the alley behind it. He could not help feeling clever by his change of position, but the day still passed uneventfully. He grew more and more impatient, feeling an odd sensation of not wanting to let Peggy Carter down, wanting to prove his worth, both to her and to Chief Sousa. He wanted nothing more than to serve his country, not having been able to serve in the war, being too young at the time, and the moment he was old enough, the war had ended. Of course, that was not something to be sad about.

It suddenly dawned on him that he did not know when to return to the hospital or if he were to return at all. Maybe he just had to return in the morning to take the next morning shift. But could Agent Carter and Chief Sousa really cover a 24-hour shift? Of course they could, but he just wanted to be sure.

He asked to use the telephone of the restaurant to call the hospital. Chief Sousa answered, and urged him to come to the hospital as quickly as possible. At first, he thought that something had happened to Chief Thompson or that they had some new big lead, but Chief Sousa assured him that everything was fine but still asked him to hurry, to come take the evening shift. O’Neill did as asked, though wondering what could be so important if nothing new had happened in the case since this morning. 


	8. Save Tonight

Daniel was thankful to Agent O’Neill for not asking any more questions as to why he had asked him to hurry. Peggy had not been able to take their date into account when she changed the plans, not knowing about the date at the time. They had been in the hospital for an hour before realising this but luckily O’Neill had called them on his own accord.

It had been a bit awkward at first, most of all because Jack had clearly figured out what was going on. Even though, for some reason, he had not made any snarky comments about it, besides the “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do” when they left. Moreover, Daniel had heard what Jack had said to Peggy and for some reason it had stung a bit. Even though he wanted Peggy to get all the recognition that she deserved, something about the way that Jack had said the things that he did had awakened a want to keep Peggy away from him. Something whispered in his chest; _Are you jealous of that idiot Jack Thompson? Why?_ There could not possibly be anything between the two of them. They practically hated each other.

But even worse. Here he was, finally sitting alone with the woman he had longed for, for so long, and he was thinking about Jack Thompson. He mentally slapped himself and put aside all the thoughts of insecurity as he put down the menu and looked at the woman who was looking at him over the top of her own menu, clearly a smile in her eyes.

“You look lovely,” He said sincerely.

“Thank you,” She answered, “It’s the best I could do having stayed in a hospital all day.”

“No one would guess,” He smiled.

They both looked back to their menus. Peggy was thinking about something to say, for once her mind going blank. Why was this suddenly so hard? She had been out, though not on an official date, with Dr Wilkes, and they had gotten along just fine. Realising the awkward silence, she decided to break it with honesty.

“Well, this is awkward,” She said, and Daniel immediately let out a sigh, releasing all the tension.

“Yes, it went a lot better in my office yesterday,” He smiled at her, and she laughed.

“How about we have the steak and a glass of red wine to go with it?” She suggested, tired of sitting with the menu in her hand.

“That sounds like a great idea,” he concurred, and placed their order.

With the menus out of their hands, silence fell over them again.

“So, do you think Dr Samberly has a shot with Rose?” Daniel tried to ask jokingly.

“Maybe. Even though he is an eccentric, he is friendly and means well,” Peggy answered.

“How is Mrs. Jarvis doing?” Daniel asked.

“She is doing very well,” Peggy smiled happily, “I think she will make a full recovery…”

Too late she remembered that a full recovery was not entirely true. She thought about telling Daniel about the complications but decided that it was not for her to tell. Instead she said; “But let’s not talk about work. We are finally out of the office, so we should take advantage of it. The upcoming case will probably take up our time soon enough.”

“Yes, yes of course, you are right,” said Daniel.

Silence fell between them again. They both looked around the restaurant as if desperately looking for a subject to talk about.

“Talking not-about-the-office, what do you do in your time off?” Peggy asked, suddenly realizing that she didn’t even know.

“Oh, I haven’t had a lot of time off since I came here. I mostly spent time…” Daniel trailed off, shaking his head.

“You mostly spent time with Violet,” Peggy finished his sentence, “It’s okay, Daniel, you were engaged, so of course you spent time together.”

“Yeah, but talking about previous fiancés is not really the smartest move on a first date,” Daniel said with a nervous laugh.

“Well, we are not conventional people, so I think we can make our own rules,” Peggy said, trying to make things easier, “I like reading, though the work does not leave a lot of time for fictional novels.”

“Yes, I like reading too. Not much of an active, outdoor person,” He said, glancing in the direction of his leg, “I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but I like detective stories.”

“Me too,” she said, relieved to find them having something in common, “I am currently reading ‘A Study in Scarlet’ for who knows what time. I guess we never completely leave our jobs behind.”

The waiter came to serve them their food, and their conversation continued, though still somewhat forced.

-.-.-.-.-.-

They left the restaurant in time for Daniel to take over from O’Neill at midnight. Daniel asked O’Neill to come into the hospital in the morning so they could plan where to go from here, and he agreed.

As soon as O’Neill left, the teasing began; “So, how was your date?” Jack asked with a grin.

“None of your business,” Daniel answered.

“Oh, that bad, huh?” Jack joked.

Daniel clenched his jaw as his mind silently agreed.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Peggy was grateful to be picked up by Mr. Jarvis after the date. He was so polite as to not ask any details, but she sensed that he had figured out that it was not quite what she had expected. She could not believe that this was how their first date had gone. Even the goodnight kissed had been forced, despite their passionate kisses just the day before. Had it maybe just been a fit of passion after the hectic case of the last weeks? Or maybe she had wanted him even more when she thought that she couldn’t have him? Was she really that shallow? Or was she that much out of training in dating that she had just lost her skill? How had she ever gotten engaged back before the war? Did they not talk back then? Maybe that was the secret? Had she just sat there and looked pretty and gotten engaged like that? The thought made her cold to her core.

“Miss Carter,” Mr. Jarvis interrupted her revelations, “You had a call this evening from a Mr. Edwards. He did not leave a message but asked you to return his call.”

Peggy smiled to herself; “Thank you, Mr. Jarvis.”


	9. Keep Up

Peggy strode confidently into the hospital room, finding Daniel looking tired in the chair by the bed, staring out the window on the opposite side of the bed, and Jack in the bed looking wide awake.

“’Morning Marge!” He exclaimed, making Daniel jump slightly. When Daniel saw Peggy, he got up of the chair and sent her a shy smile.

“’Morning Peggy,” He said, not quite sure which protocol applied to their current relation. They just looked at each other, not knowing how to act in front of Jack.

“Oh, will you two love birds just take it outside. You are making me feel sick again,” Jack said.

They left the room and stood silently in front of each other for a moment.

“So…” They both said at the same time.

This was becoming too much, so Peggy said; “Daniel, maybe we should put this on hold until this case is closed, and I can go on an actual vacation.”

Daniel looked away, obviously feeling rejected, though he could see what she meant, and then sent her a smile; “Okay, I guess we can wait a little longer.”

At that exact moment, O’Neill turned the corner, stopping in his tracks when he saw them standing in the hall.

“Chief Sousa, I apologise for being late,” He said awkwardly.

“No problem, O’Neill. Let’s get to business.”

They went back into the room, closing the door behind them.

“So, where do we stand,” Daniel asked.

“No action at the Arena Club,” O’Neill answered promptly.

“So, we have nothing,” Jack concluded resignedly.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Peggy said, intentionally taking a breath for dramatic effect before continuing, “After hearing your story yesterday of how you acquired my fake file in England, I stepped out to make my own call to an old colleague of mine, Agent John Edwards. He actually helped me get into the S.O.E. He is currently Chief of MI5’s decoding department, and I asked him to make some requests regarding the file. Nothing official of course. He called me back last night and said it was not a file from the archives of MI5, but one that had been supplied, when Jack sent his request, by someone high level in the SSR from Washington D.C.”

There was a moment of silence in the small room.

“So, the file came from SSR US headquarters?” Jack asked.

“It would seem so,” Peggy said, “Now, I don’t know about you, gentlemen, but I say the odds for finding the Council in our capital of power are pretty good.”

The three men stared at the woman in front of them, surprised by the progress that she had secretly made when they had felt like they had hit a wall.

“So, if we want to know why someone wanted me dead and what that file is all about, all we have to do is take a small trip to D.C.” Jack broke the silence.

“Exactly,” Peggy said, obviously excited, “I have asked Howard to arrange transport for us. We will be leaving at 16:00 today. I have asked Rose to take over as your babysitter, Chief Thompson.”

“No way, Carter, I am coming with you.” Jack protested, and before Peggy could say any further he added, “I have already arranged for the Doctor to come by around noon and let me out of here.”

Peggy was about to protest but when seeing the expression on Jack’s face, she decided to let him come, as long as he did not get in the way. It was not like the iron bar through her abdomen had kept her out of the game for long. So, she did not feel as if she could not tell him to stay put. Plus, he had been right about ‘learning some trust’.

“I will just go by the office and make a few arrangements and then go home to pack,” Daniel said.

“I will come help,” O’Neill said.

”Good. Then we will meet here at 14:30. Mr. Jarvis will take us to the airport.” Peggy said satisfied.

The two men left the room, and Peggy turned to Jack.

“So, you and me again,” Jack said with a crooked smile.

“Lucky me,” Peggy answered, faking exhaustion.


	10. Battle Born

They sat in silence for a while, though Peggy could feel questions hanging in the air from Jack’s sick bed, but she was not interested in discussing her previous evening with Daniel with him. She tried to avoid his eyes but every time she looked up at him, she met his amused gaze. The atmosphere was getting unbearable.

“What is it, Chief Thompson?” She asked exhausted, expecting every lewd comment she could possibly and impossibly imagine.

“So, this Mr. Edwards got you into the S.O.E.?” Jack asked, taking her completely by surprise.

“Yes, he was my superior at Bletchley Park,” She told him, carefully, not used to him taking an actual interest in her.

“Why did you decide to join?” He then asked.

Jack seemed surprisingly genuine. Maybe he really wanted to know. But Peggy was not sure how much she wanted to share. She got up from the chair and walked around the room, wondering how much to tell and how to avoid bringing up her brother, not interested in reopening that specific wound; ”I was told that I was meant to fight. And I have never really done as asked-”

“I’ve noticed,” Jack inserted bitterly.

“-Though I will admit that I thought about it before accepting. I didn’t really believe that they would actually send women out in the field,” She leant against the windowsill.

“You are leaving something out,” Jack stated observingly, as she still tried to avoid his gaze.

Peggy sighed; “I was engaged, almost married too.”

“What!?” Jack exclaimed almost jumping out of the bed, “Why is this the first time I hear about this? ’Mrs. Peggy Carter’, loving housewife. Or I guess it wouldn’t have been ‘Carter’?”

“No, it would have been ‘Mrs. Wells’,” Peggy said with a hint of disgust at the thought.

“Mrs. Agent Peggy Wells,” Jack mocked.

“If you ever mention this to anyone…” Peggy threatened.

“Your secret is safe with me,” Jack threw his hands in the air in surrender though his smile stayed smug, “So why didn’t you get married?”

“Like I said; I was meant to fight, so I did,” She said, sending Jack a look to make it clear that she had nothing more to add to that story.

“And then you joined the SSR, got mixed up with Project Rebirth, the war ended, and now you are stuck with me.”

“Yes, I must say it has gone downhill,” she sent him a smirk of her own.

She looked out the window, enjoying the sun hitting her face. She couldn’t believe that she had just told Jack about this. But she trusted him when he said that he would keep it a secret.

“What about yourself, Thompson? Why did you go to war?” Peggy turned the questioning around.

“Well, it just felt like the right thing to do. What all good Americans should do,” He answered.

Peggy looked away, thinking about her brother. A lot of good men had gone to war. Too many had not returned.

Jack had obviously thought that she was thinking of someone else when he made her turn to look at him again by saying in a low voice; “You know, I actually met him, Captain Rogers.”

“You did?” She asked, replacing her thoughts of Michael with Steve. Not much of an improvement.

“Yeah…” He said, looking away, “I was shortly in Europe before being shipped to Japan. Got caught up in a really bad blizzard and taken hostage by HYDRA. Rogers got us out.”

“I remember that. I was there with the 107th,” she said, remembering it clearly.

“I didn’t see you there,” He said surprised.

“Well, I was not one of the ‘cute, little nurses’ as you put it,” She said, earning a laugh from him. She couldn’t believe that she was having a conversation like this with Jack. It came so easy.

Jack was surprised to learn so much about Peggy. For a moment, he thought that he should have gotten shot sooner so he could have started to get to know her equally sooner.

-.-.-.-.-.-

The doctor reluctantly agreed to sign Jack out of the hospital. They just had to wait for a mountain of prescription medication that he would have to take with him.

Peggy looked out the window while Jack was getting dressed. Too late she realised that she could see a transparent mirror image of Jack in the window glass, and for some reason she found it hard to look away, especially when she caught a glimpse of the fresh scar on his chest. It looked very similar to the one she had gotten from the iron bar in her stomach, just much too close to vital parts.

“All decent now,” Jack said, and Peggy turned back around. Unlike when she had been hurt, Jack seemed to be able to move more freely, maybe because he did not have a tight pencil skirt pressed against his wound. “The others will be here in about an hour. And we are not going to play any more poker. Any other ideas?”

“Actually, I have another question for you,” Peggy said, walking closer to him with her arms crossed, “You went through all of that trouble to get the file, so why come warn me at the house, trying to drag me back to New York?”

Jack leant against the bed, probably still a bit tired from laying in bed for so long; “I guess I already had a bad feeling about what Vernon was telling me to do. You are a fellow agent after all. And I didn’t want you to be dishonoured. And I was afraid that you might tell someone about… you know… if I dug up one of your secrets and told everyone,” He admitted, obviously not proud of himself.

“I would never tell, Jack,” She said, “I know I got angry back at the office and I chose some very unfortunate words – And I am sorry for that. But I will never tell your story. You have to trust me on that.”

“I do,” Jack quickly said, making sure to look her in the eye, “I do trust you. And I promise from now on to prove that to you.”

“Thank you. That means a lot to me,” She smiled at him.


	11. Going Under

They stepped onboard the private jet of Howard Stark. It was quite different from the airplane that they had travelled with to Russia, the bottle of champagne in the wine cooler for one thing.

They sat in the armchair-like seats, two sets of seats facing each other around a polished mahogany table, four champagne glasses awaiting in the steel holders by the window.

“Do you need anything else, Miss Carter?” Mr. Jarvis asked.

“Where is the caviar?” Jack asked jokingly while putting his bag away.

“In the fridge of course, we can make some exquisite blinis with salmon and caviar once in air, if you like,” Mr. Jarvis offered, as enthusiastic about food as ever.

“I think we will be fine, Mr. Jarvis. Please get us in the air,” Peggy requested.

“Yes, Miss Carter,” And so he disappeared into the cockpit.

They took their seats around the table, Daniel and Peggy on one side and Jack and O’Neill on the other.

Jack picked up the bottle and started untightening the wire around the cork.

“Should you be drinking with all that medication in your system?” Daniel asked, eyeing him disapprovingly.

“Of course. I just survived a bullet. If that doesn’t call for celebrations, I don’t know what does,” Jack answered and poured a glass for each of them as the plane stabilised in the air.

They all picked up a glass, though Daniel did so reluctantly.

“So, what’s the plan, Carter?” Jack asked as he took a sip.

Peggy was a bit surprised that he so openly let her take the lead.

“Well, I asked Mr. Jarvis to ask Howard about the Arena Club in D.C., and he gave me an address. I suggest we go there to begin with and find a way to get in to the premises to look for the council,” She answered.

“And how will we get in, if you don’t mind me asking,” O’Neill said carefully.

“Luckily, Howard received notice for a charity ball at the Arena Club last month. The party will be in two days. You know, one of those post-war parties. Unfortunately, he ‘accidently’ invited some ladies to the Arena Club in Los Angeles and is now banned from all Arena Clubs, charity balls included.”

“We will never get in without an invitation,” Jack said pessimistically.

“Yes, we will definitely need an invite,” Peggy said smiling, “But that should not be a problem. I would suggest that Thompson and I enter the premises while Daniel and O’Neill stay close for back up.”

“Are you sure Jack should be going in – No offence Jack, but you have just been shot,” Daniel said, trying to cover up his true background for protesting.

“Thompson was considered the protégé of Vernon Masters and considered a war hero with his reception of the Navy Cross, so he would fit in naturally,” Peggy stated matter-of-factly, “And though I do not like to consider myself as arm candy, I would be the most obvious choice here to accompany him at the party. Unless any of you feel like wearing a dress?”

Daniel silently agreed to her plan, though obviously disagreeing. He thought about suggesting O’Neill, but choosing O’Neill would not argue against the points she had just made about Jack.

“But won’t they figure out that Jack is still alive if we take him to their own party?” Daniel tried desperately.

“Well, we cannot keep him dead forever. SSR New York already knows that he is alive, so the word will spread,” Peggy said, her voice making it clear that this was no longer debateable.

“How are you going to get tickets?” O’Neill asked.

Peggy got up from her seat and walked to the cockpit.

“Mr. Jarvis, do we have a phone onboard?”

“Yes, in the cabinet to your left, Miss Carter,” Mr Jarvis answered.

Peggy went to the phone and dialled a number that brought back bittersweet memories. She earned six raised eyebrows when she said: “Code Blackbird. Agent Carter for Colonel Philips.”


	12. Lifestyle of the Rich and the Famous

Daniel, Jack and O’Neill stood around the corner of the Arena Club, D.C. People were arriving in the latest models of cars and limousines. Everything was sparkling to a blinding degree, jewellery glistening and paparazzi flashing, trying to immortalise the famous guests.

“Now, that is definitely Joe DiMaggio,” Jack smiled around the corner, looking back at Daniel for support in his enthusiasm but not finding any.

“Where is Peggy?” Daniel asked nervously, looking down the street.

They had left shortly before Peggy and Mr. Jarvis to bring the surveillance van to site. He started to fear that something had happened to her, maybe someone had found out about Jack. Maybe they had come for her.

Luckily, a moment later he finally saw the front lights of a car approaching them.

As the car pulled over, Mr. Jarvis sprung out the driver’s seat, wanting to open the door for Peggy, but once again she beat him to it and opened the door herself.

Daniel dropped his jaw when he saw her. She had let her hair hang lose down her back, still curly around the edges. She was dressed in a long black dress with a light shimmer to it, and a plunging neckline, showing her ivory skin. Her purse was shimmering silver. Her lips were blood red, and he had a brief flash to the classic tale of Snow White.

“Not bad, Carter,” He heard Jack say from behind him, his voice dripping with admiration though the sparse compliment tried to hide it.

“Not bad yourself,” Peggy answered coolly, though he did look very handsome in his black suit and her eyes might have given her away slightly.

“Well, now that we have established that we are all properly dressed, should we get going?” A rough voice said from behind them, and Peggy moved out of the way to reveal Colonel Philips in his dress uniform.

All three men immediately stood at attention at the sight of the colonel, leader of the headquarters of SSR. He had immediately agreed to help Peggy, especially when he learned that his own office might be compromised.

“Well, I see that you keep them on their toes, Peggy,” Phillips noted with a dry undertone of humour.

“Yes sir,” She answered, and the men stood at ease at the informal tone between the two friends. Peggy then continued; “Thompson and I will be going in together with Colonel Philips – We are his ‘plus one’ – and Daniel and O’Neill will stay here with Mr. Jarvis. We are all wearing microphones so you will be able to hear everything that is going on inside and get us out if it should become necessary. The object of this mission is to get familiar with the Arena Club, D.C. and its members, especially potential Council members. Is it clear?”

“Yes ma’am,” All five men answered.

“But, will the mics work? The Council in L.A. was bug proof,” Jack asked.

“Yes, Mr. Stark has made some impressive improvements, though not yet being able to make two-way communication possible due to the power consumption,” Mr. Jarvis explained.

“Well, that is good enough for me,” Jack said, gesturing back at Peggy to let her have the word again.

“Then let’s do it!” Peggy said enthusiastically.

Jack offered his arm to Peggy, and she accepted it. They followed the Colonel to the head entrance. Peggy had feared all the paparazzi, but luckily war heroes were less popular than sport and movie stars so they avoided most of the attention.

At the door, a nicely dressed waiter checked their invitation, which the Colonel showed, and they were accepted to enter. When they had crossed the threshold, Peggy faced her old friend.

“Thank you for getting us inside Colonel,” She said sincerely.

“No problem. Just remember, you owe me big time for this. I was never going to attend this circus if you hadn’t called,” He sighed.

“Well, we will not keep you here for long, but I hope you will stay a little as our alibi,” She answered.

“Well, I would not want to jeopardise your mission. Let’s hope they have whiskey, then,” The Colonel said before moving towards the bar.

Peggy turned to Jack who gestured towards the grand hall. They were met by an enormous hall decorated in gold and red velvet. It surely was a symbol of the time to come after the war.

“Would you care for a drink?” Jack asked as a waiter passed with a tray of champagne, whereof Jack took two glasses.

“Thank you,” She said and accepted a glass from him.

They toasted together and Peggy started scoping out the room. She recognised many celebrities and many potential Council members. Suddenly her eyes fell on Jack who was watching her.

“What?” She asked.

“Nothing,” He said and looked away.

She chose to ignore him, but he grabbed her hand and regained her attention.

“You would look less conspicuous if you looked around while dancing,” He stated and took her glass, placing it on a nearby table together with his own, and then lead her to the dance floor.

“You won’t step on my toes, will you Carter?” Jack asked with a smug smile.

“Not as long as you behave and do as I say,” She said with a small smile, though her eyes were moving around the room instead of looking at him.

“Yeah, I overheard what Dum-Dum Dugan said,” Jack answered, elaborating when Peggy sent him a puzzled look, finally acknowledging his presence, “The thing about ‘what Rogers would do if Dugan got his best girl hurt’.”

“’Do what Peggy says’,” Peggy concluded, remembering the conversation.

“Do what Peggy says,” Jack repeated with a smile, also remembering the time in the desert with the gamma canon where both he and Daniel had said the same thing. Daniel had not even heard Dugan say it, and yet he knew. Maybe that’s why Peggy and he were good together. Though, they had not been good on their date, had they?

Jack was brought out of his thoughts as Peggy exclaimed; “Thompson, look there, an old acquaintance of ours.”

With ease, Jack turned Peggy in their dancing and got a view of Hugh Jones standing by the bar.

“Do you think he will call us out?” He asked.

“On what ground? That we are here with an old colleague to celebrate the end of the war?” Peggy asked and lightly pushed him on one arm to make him move so she could see a different part of the room.

“Your idol DiMaggio is here,” She said.

“I though you didn’t know who he was?” Jack frowned.

“That’s what I needed you to think,” She answered smugly.

“I must admit, Carter, you are good,” He said honestly.

For some reason, he found it hard to focus. He understood the importance of the mission, and he was not in much pain after having had a few days of rest and a solid dose of medication. He looked around the room, trying to find his assailant, and yet his brain could not help but notice how easy it felt to have Peggy in his arms and how the light sensation of Peggy’s perfume enveloped him.


	13. Secret Door

“Look at that,” Jack said, turning Peggy a bit so they could both see the staircase going upstairs.

Hugh Jones was walking up the stairs, looking around as if making sure he was not being followed. He greeted the people on the balcony and disappeared down a hallway supposedly closed off if you were to believe the neatly written sign.

“Leaving the party so soon?” Jack wondered.

“Not without us,” Peggy stated.

She let Jack lead her slowly through the dancing couples on the dancefloor, though she desperately wanted to follow Jones a lot faster. Jack picked up another two glasses of champagne on the way, making it look as if they wanted to go to a more private spot on the balcony to enjoy the champagne and each other’s company.

As they passed the hallway that Hugh Jones had disappeared down, Peggy sent Jack a very indicative smile, making his heart skip a beat. He had never seen her flirtatious before, but she played it very well. He smiled back at her and placed a hand on her lower back as he led her down the hall, knowing very well what anyone who had seen them would be thinking. He didn’t care. He would have done it proudly, even if not for the mission.

As soon as they were out of sight, Peggy slipped out of his grip and snug down the hall to look for Jones. Jack followed her closely and placed the champagne glasses on the floor as silently as possible to free his hands. The hallway turned, and Peggy stuck out her head to look down the hallway, Jack waiting for her to signal it as being clear. Instead she just stepped forward and looked down the hall. He quickly moved up next to her.

The hall was empty. No windows, no doors. Some extravagant pictures on the walls. Nothing else.

“Where did he go?” Jack asked, looking back down the hallway they had come from. No doors there either.

“There must be a secret door,” Peggy said intrigued.

They started investigating the walls, looking behind the pictures. Jack even checked the lamps. Nothing.

“Well, the secret door is definitely secret,” He said, scratching his neck.

Peggy closed her eyes and raised her head towards the ceiling, trying to clear her mind to figure out where the secret door could be. She could not even see cracks in the wall from where the door should be. It was very well hidden. She thought of the layout of the building. The wall to their right should be facing the back alley. There could not be any rooms behind it. The hallway that they had come down was not very long, so if there was to be a hidden room behind the wall to the left, it would not be very big. She changed her position, looking down to the floor while pursing her lips.

There, she saw it. Down in the skirting was a small hole, the only place that was not fully shiny and polished. She bent down and studied it, noticing a shine of metal in the small crack. Jack sat down next to her, seeing what she had noticed.

“What is that?” He asked.

“I think....” She said, while digging into her purse, taking out a thin golden object, “…We found the keyhole for our key.”

She turned the Arena Club pen, the small golden pins popping out to form a key, and inserted it in the small hole. It fit perfectly. She turned it and it gave a small click, and the wall slid open almost silently.

Both Jack and Peggy could not help their jaws slightly dropping. However, they quickly collected themselves and pulled out their guns, Jack from within his jacket pocket and Peggy from her leg holster.

Jack looked into the newly opened room; “Clear,” He said in a low voice.

Peggy snug up behind him and they entered the small hall with two doors to their left and one at the end of the hall. They closed the door behind them, Peggy making sure to notice the button next to it for them to get back out.

“What now?” Jack whispered.

Peggy took a device up from her purse, which Jack recognised as a sound enhancer used for spying, and went to the first door. She put the device to her ear and listened for voices on the other side of the door.

“I can’t hear anything in here,” she whispered and went to the next door, “Someone is definitely in here.”

She approached the door at the end but stopped and hurried back towards Jack, indicating for him to hurry into the first room. Jack entered, his gun ready if Peggy had been wrong about the room being empty. Luckily, she was right, and they closed the door just as they could hear the door at the end of the hall open and someone exiting.

“ _… can’t wait to get back to the party. There was a pretty nice blond, you know…_ “a voice said as the person entered the room next to them, the neighbouring door opening and closing.

They both drew a sigh of relief, and then turned to look closer at the room they were standing in. It was an achieve room. Painted grey and with cabinets all around the walls.

“Yatzy,” Peggy said and went to the first cabinet and read out loud from the labels on the file drawers, “SSR, S.O.E, MI5…”

She opened the last mentioned and skimmed through the closely packed files.

“Lots of familiar names…” She said.

Jack looked through the other cabinets; “They have files for all the major organizations and companies. Even Leviathan. Dr Fennhoff is here! It’s one big pile of dirt on everyone important in the world.”

“Dottie!” Peggy exclaimed.

“She’s got a file at MI5?” Jack hissed in disbelief.

“No, she told me something. That the key lead to a stronger currency than money, and something along the line of ‘The key opens all the secrets behind every major decision in the US’. That’s why she was going to steal the key.”

“Information,” Jack concluded, “It can open doors even money can’t. You just need to know someone’s worst secrets and you can get them to do anything.”

“And when they don’t have anything concrete, they make it up? Like with my file?” Peggy asked.

“Maybe. Vernon wanted you out of his way and thought that was the best way to do it. He made sure to send it to MI5 when you started making requests in L.A. He probably had someone at MI5 and SSR just waiting for the right time,” Jack reasoned.

“So, he fabricated the file and made sure you would go look for it,” Peggy said. It seemed reasonable, but something felt wrong.

After a moment, something dawned on her; “You know what this means, don’t you?”

“Yeah, we have everything we need right here to bring the bastards down,” Jack said with a smile.

“Jack, I think this is much more than just the Council,” Peggy said.

“What do you mean?”

“The Council of Nine is only nine people. Of course, they have people working for them, but does this not seem bigger to you? Maybe the Council of Nine does not mean a council of nine persons, maybe it means something else.”

“Okay, but maybe we should figure that out when we are not in constant risk of being detected,” Jack whispered, as they again heard one of the other doors in the hall open and a moment later the other close. They both released another breath of relief.

“You could be right,” Peggy agreed.

They went to the door and snug out. There were loud voiced coming from the room at the end of the hall. Jack went for their way out, but Peggy quickly went for the door next to theirs, not hearing any sounds anymore through her sound enhancer.

“Peggy!” Jack hissed.

“Don’t forget Jack; ‘Do as Peggy says’” She hissed and quietly opened the door to look inside, “It’s a surveillance room. They got cameras on the entire party.”

“Good! Great! Now let’s go,” Jack urged her.

“Just one more door, Jack. Where is your sense of adventure?” Peggy said and shifted to the door at the end of the hall, putting the sound enhancer to the door.


	14. Black Swan

“10 seconds, and then we are out!” Jack said desperately, looking between the different doors, feeling very exposed in the hall. Someone could walk in through the secret door at any minute and catch them red-handed.

The voices behind the door at the end of the hall were tense and frustrated. Even without the enhancer, Jack could pick up multiple pieces of what was being said.

_“…. Have jeopardised the entire operation!...”_

_“That fool!”_

_“…Luckily already out of the way…”_

_“...Should never been given such an important job!”_

_“Gentlemen!”_ A voice raised above the others, and the room was immediately quiet, _“As has been pointed out, the matter has already been taken care of. Further, Mr. Black has ensured me that all evidence has been dealt with.”_

_“That’s right.”_

_“So, let’s move on. We are the hosts of a party, after all.”_

Peggy immediately moved away, Jack thankful to finally get out. They went smoothly through the secret door. Neither said anything, wanting to move as silently as possible. When they were to turn down the hall and back to the party, Peggy looked around the corner first, immediately pulling her head back again.

“Someone is coming,” she whispered.

They both looked desperately between the secret door and the corner of the hall.

Damn, Jack had left their glasses on the floor. Someone must have noticed. What to do? What to do? What-

“Play along,” Jack whispered, looking at her desperately.

“What?” Peggy hissed.

“And… Sorry,” Jack sighed.

Before Peggy could ask again, Jack pushed her up against the wall. She was about to push him back and give him a piece of her mind, but his plan quickly became clear to her. The sound of footsteps being too close, she threw her hands around his neck and the little distance between them disappeared as their lips met.

At first, their movements the clumsy, and Peggy thought for a second that no matter how naïve the person approaching was, he would never believe this. But as sudden as they had ended up in this situation, as quickly they found a rhythm, and Peggy scolded herself when her body instinctively moved against Jack’s as he held her waist closer.

This was nothing like what Jack had imagined. Her lips were soft, and she moved them with such ease despite the less than ideal situation. The soft fabric of her dress beneath his fingers, the curves underneath the fabric. He wondered for a moment if his stitches could burst from how fast his heart was beating.

Though it only lasted for a few seconds, it felt like a lot longer.

“Wh-What the hell are you doing here?” A man yelped.

They both looked surprised at the man, almost having forgotten the situation they were in. However, they quickly recovered.

“Sorry, man. Couldn’t help ourselves. Look how lovely she is in this dress,” Jack said with a smug smile.

“Oh sweetie,” Peggy said with an American accent, acting all embarrassed.

“You are not allowed down here. Please return to the party… or get a room or something,” The man said, looking away from the couple. Clearly a doorman of some kind.

“Let’s go back downstairs as the nice man says, sugar,” Peggy said to Jack, starting to drag him down the hall.

“Sorry again,” Jack said, as he passed the man.

“No problem,” The man answered with an understanding smile as he looked after Peggy with a look in his eyes that almost made Jack punch him, “And remember those champagne glasses, guys.”

Ignoring the glasses and the doorman’s irritated huff, they reached the balcony outside the hallway and quickly moved down the stairs and found a quiet corner by the bar.

Peggy turned to Jack to say something, but stopped in her tracks. She pulled his handkerchief out of his breast pocket and held it in front of him.

“Please remove my lipstick,” She said, keeping her voice as even as possible.

He looked puzzled for a moment, thinking she was referring to the smudged lipstick on her own lips, but as she looked to his lips, he caught the hint and started removing the stains of her lipstick from his mouth. She turned away from him, took out a pocket mirror from her purse and corrected her own lipstick, removing the smudges and applying a new layer.

“We will never talk of this again and we will forget that it ever happened,” She said definitely.

Jack nodded a single time and looked away. For some reason, he did not want to forget it.

“And I think we got what we came for, so let’s go,” She said, pushing Jack at his shoulder to make him turn and leave.

Jack turned as directed, but stopped in his tracks.

“Jack, come on,” Peggy said despairingly, needing to get away from Jack to clear her mind.

“That’s him,” Jack said in a low, angry voice, “The guy who shot me.”

Peggy followed his gaze to the balcony they had just come from, and everything started turning as her eyes met the assailant of Jack.

Jack heard the chocked breath that Peggy took and looked away from the man on the balcony to look at Peggy. Her mouth was open in shock and her face was pale.

“Peggy, are you okay?” He asked, and grabbed her shoulders.

“Michael…” She whispered, almost inaudibly and took a step forward, not believing her eyes.

He looked at her. It was really him. But he was dead. It could not be him. She could not figure out what to do. To run to him. To faint. To run away. To hug him. To yell at him. Her mind was racing.

Then he spoke. No, no sound came out. But she read his lips; “Peggy. Don’t. Look away. Get out. I will find you. Promise.” And then he turned around and went down the hall with the secret door.

Jack’s voice brought her back, his voice insisting but concerned by her pale appearance: “Do you know him?”

“He…” Peggy found it hard to find her voice, “He is my brother.”


	15. Misery Loves My Company

Peggy sat in the van outside the Arena Club. Though everyone was staring at her, she sat deep in her own thoughts, trying to make sense of everything.

“Peggy?” Daniel asked.

She looked up at him, suddenly realising that a tear or two had escaped her. She stood up, trying to shake it off, not wanting to appear weak in front of her colleagues.

“I know this must be personal for you, Carter, but… We need to know,” Jack said with more sympathy than she had ever heard from him, “You said he was your brother?”

Peggy took a deep breath.

“Yes, he was. He is. Except he can’t be. Michael died during the war,” She kept her voice levelled but could not look any of them in the eye.

“Did you receive his body?” Colonel Philips asked coldly, earning a look from Daniel that would have killed him on the spot, if possible.

“No. Only his tags,” Peggy answered.

There was a moment of silence.

“So, he is one of the bad guys?” Jack asked carefully, looking at Peggy to ensure her that he only said it because someone had to.

“I don’t think so…” She answered carefully.

“Peggy, you are not impartial in this-” Philips interrupted.

“No, but he warned me,” Peggy interrupted back, “Before he left, he signalled that we should leave and that he would come find me.”

“So, we let him come and explain himself,” Mr. Jarvis said diplomatically.

“I’m not sure that is a good idea,” Philips said. 

“No, it isn’t,” Peggy agreed but then changed her tone to be more determent, “But nonetheless that is what we will do. Or what I will do… I need to know the truth.”

“Peggy…”

“Thank you for your concern, Colonel Philips, but I will do this with or without your support,” She stated in her most cold and professional voice, making it clear that there was nothing further to discuss.

The Colonel sighed and looked at the agents around him; “And you lot support her?”

“Yes Sir,” they all said with one voice.

Colonel Philips stood up to leave the van; “Do what you think is right, Peggy. You know where to find me if you need me.”

-.-.-.-.-.-

Jack was happy not to be seated in the same car as Peggy on their way back to the Howard Stark luxury apartment that they had lived in for their stay. Unbelievably, the one in D.C. was even grander than the previous ones that he had seen in New York and L.A., a perfect mirror image of the exaggerated glamour of the Arena Club. They each had a room and bathroom of their own plus plenty to spare, thus not having to be in each other’s presence unless they wanted to or when they had to eat.

He looked into the side mirror of the van, seeing Mr. Jarvis, Daniel and Peggy in Stark’s car behind them. O’Neill was driving the van next to him.

He turned to look out the window instead, not registering what they were passing by. Just seeing how Peggy and Daniel had been sitting in the back seat. He could imagine how Daniel was holding her hand – If she would let him.

Why did that bother him? Daniel had been sending puppy dog eyes at Peggy since her heels clicked against the bullpen for the first time. Truth be told, most of the guys in the office had had a crush on Peggy at one point or another, some more carnal than others. But her iron cold exterior had extinguished all the flames but Daniel’s. Jack had to admit that he had been quite infatuated with her since her first day in the office. Her looks, her accomplishments during the war. But he had pushed it aside. Made fun of her and questioned her abilities.

But had he really hidden it as well as he thought? Most of the others seemed to have believed him, even supported his mockery. But Dooley had called out his crush. And now he was finding it hard to lie to himself. No matter how much he was trying to reason with himself; _It was just for the mission. It got us out of a tough spot. It didn’t matter_. Not to her at least.

But it mattered to him. The breath that had left him when their lips met, and the tingling feeling that spread through his body as they found their rhythm. The movement of her body against his, and the slenderness of the figure inside that soft dress. For a moment, he had forgotten everything around him, even the weight of the Navy Cross had lifted. And a small desperate hope reminded him of the obviously poor official first date that Peggy and Daniel had had. And he hated himself for placing hope in his friends’ misfortune.

When they came back to the apartment, he quickly disappeared into his room and spend a couple of hours in the company of one of Stark’s very nice bottles of bourbon.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Peggy had not said anything during the trip back. Daniel had tried saying something, she could tell by how uneasily he had sat in his seat. He clearly did not know how to handle the events of the night, probably having something to say about what he had overheard during the undercover, but not daring to bring it up at this point in time.

He had tried to take her hand, but she had pulled away. She could not let herself get closer to him right now. It felt like everything she knew was crumbling. It felt like just moments ago she was sitting on Daniel’s lap, kissing him with all her might, and now her world had turned upside down.

Her mind jumped between the events of the evening. First and foremost; Michael. She couldn’t believe that he was alive. She kept thinking that she must have been seeing things. But he stood there. Jack saw him too. As if seven years had never passed. His uniform replaced by a black suit, but his eyes the same. She tried to decipher the look that he had sent her. Surprise. Confusion. Desperation. Probably everything her own eyes had expressed.

But he had promised to come find her. And she trusted him. Even after all these years and despite the current hole in her stomach where everything she once knew had been. And if he couldn’t find her, she would find him. She was not going to lose him again.

Because she was so sure of herself and that she would see Michael again, there was room for another thought in her head, even though she tried to push it away.

Jack. The thought was so simple. His stupid smug smile. His stupid arrogant laugh. His apologetic, yet piercing gaze before he bent down to kiss her. His lips. His body against hers.

As soon as they were in the apartment, she disappeared into her room. She was thankful that no one followed her. Especially Daniel. She couldn’t keep it in anymore, but dropped on her bed, letting the frustrated tears run freely.


	16. From the Inside

Peggy sat by her window. The tears had dried and had released her of most of her frustration, making it easier to focus again. She just sat there, looking into the night. She was afraid that if she were to sleep, she would miss Michael coming by. On the other hand, she couldn’t be sure if he would come so soon after they had met. But she had a feeling that he was as desperate to see her as she was to see him.

There was a soft knock on the door.

“Come in.”

And there he was. He closed the door behind him. None of them moved, just looking at each other.

“Peggy, I am…” Before Michael could finish, she had her arms wrapped around his neck, and he gladly returned the hug, “I’m so sorry, Pegs. You were not supposed to find out like this.”

Peggy push herself away and as soon as she could, she slapped him across his face, not too hard, but making sure her point got across: “No, I shouldn’t have. How could you let me believe that you were dead for all these years? Do you have any idea what I have been through the last seven years? And mother? And father? Why, Michael? Why?”

He took her hands in his own and smiled at her, tears in his eyes: “You haven’t changed a bit, sister dearest. I have missed you so much.”

“Don’t try to evade my questions with flattery,” Peggy answered, though her voice was much softer, and a small smile lingered on her lips.

“I will tell you everything. But I cannot be gone for too long, so I am afraid I must cut this short,” He let go of her hands and started walking around the room, “When you were offered the position at S.O.E., I was given a different offer. To go undercover at HYDRA. To work against them from the inside. But it meant that I had to cut all ties to my family and become someone else. At first, I was going to say no. But when you turned down the offer from S.O.E. and decided to make a life with Fred – despite my disagreeing with him – I decided to do everything I could to protect the life that you had chosen. And to protect mother and father.”

“Well, that didn’t work. I changed my mind and joined the S.O.E. because you died. I only did that for you.”

“No, you did what you wanted to do all along. I just wish that I would have been there to see it. I have heard fantastic stories about your achievements,” He said proudly before continuing his story; “To work undercover was a great opportunity. So, I agreed, naïvely thinking that the war would be short and thus the pain I was going to inflict on my family would be short too. I have been working undercover in Hydra ever since. I worked a long time to make them believe that I had turned my back on England and that I wished to take on a new identity to work for Hydra. They called me ‘Mr. Black’ because they wanted me to be a black sheep to the UK.”

“So, you are the one who ‘deal with all evidence’?” Peggy asked, thinking back to what she had heard at the door in the secret room.

“Where did you… Oh, you made it into the Council Chambers… I should have figured as much,” Michael said, obviously proud of his younger sister.

“You also shot Jack Thompson, Chief of the SSR,” She said a bit more sternly, though obviously still expecting a good reason.

“Yes, being Mr. Black has not always been as clean as I would have liked.”

“You could have killed him!”

“I gave him the best chance I could with the mission I had. I didn’t hit his heart!”

“Why?”

“Why? Because he is SSR, I had no desire to kill him.”

“No, why did you shoot him in the first place?”

“Because he had my file.”

Peggy drew in a sharp breath of realisation. M. Carter’s file. How could she not have realised before? It was not her file, it was her brother’s.

“Vernon Masters had been looking for a way to dishonour you. He asked the Council to dig up dirt on you. Some stupid paper pusher of the Council found my file, thought it was yours and had it delivered to Jack. When we discovered his error, we had to retrieve it. No one could find out about me or my relations to the Council.”

After a short pause, Peggy had to ask: “Did you do those things that the file states?”

“No. It was made up to make me trustworthy in the eyes of HYDRA. Though I have had to participate in similar actions later to keep my cover,” A shadow passed in his eyes.

Peggy could see that her brother was not proud, but she was still frustrated at the thought of what her brother was involved in.

“So, you are working for the Council of Nine?” She changed the subject reluctantly.

“Yes. The Council of Nine was founded by nine high standing members of HYDRA after the war. It has expanded ever since, satellite Councils being established in all major cities around the world. MI5 decided to keep me undercover to intervene as much as possible in their plans,” Michael related, then looked at his watch, “I am so sorry, Peggy, but I have to go soon. I beg of you, please don’t come after the Council again. We are doing everything we can to stop them.”

“You don’t seem to be very successful,” Peggy stated coldly, “You have been undercover for seven years, you almost killed a Chief of the SSR for the cause and you say that they keep expanding. I’m sorry Michael, but whatever you and MI5 are doing, it is not enough.”

Her brother didn’t answer, and she sensed that he had had the same thoughts.

“Let me help you, Michael. Work together with the SSR and let us bring them down.”

“I can try asking my superiors, but I cannot promise you anything” He reluctantly agreed.

“You can tell them that I have the Chief of SSR New York, the Chief of SSR Los Angeles and Colonel Chester Philips, and if absolutely necessary Howard Stark, standing by me in this mission. I am sure that they will be willing to help your cause as well, if we do this together.”

“That is an impressive list. It might help,” Michael admitted and smiled at her, “You have done so well. I always knew that you were meant for greatness.”

He stood close to her and cupped her chin, tenderly stroking it with his thumb.

“I am so sorry, Peggy. For everything. But I have to go now. Please make sure to stay safe. I will do everything to make sure that they don’t know about our relation, but you know that you tend to make quite some noise,” He smiled at that, obviously remembering fond memories from their childhood. He then left her side reluctantly and started walking towards her door.

“Michael?”

He stopped; “Yes?”

“Didn’t you ever think about coming to see me? Didn’t you ever…” Her voice faded.

“All the time, Pegs. You have no idea how happy I am to finally see you. To talk to you. But you also have to understand that I have kept my distance to keep you safe and to keep our parents safe. You have no idea what HYDRA would have done to you if they had known about my connection to you…,” Michael stepped back and gave her a hug, “I am so happy to see you. I have kept tracks on you the best that I could without being caught and I am so proud of you. But it also hurts me as much as I had feared to leave you again.”

With that he let go of her and quickly left the room before she could say anything further. She put her arms around herself, to keep his warmth for just a bit longer.

Despite her turbulent day, she could not remember the last time she had felt this good.


	17. So Close

Peggy sat fresh at the morning table with her colleagues, telling about her conversation with her brother the previous night. She was clearly invigorated by meeting her brother again. Both Daniel and Jack were happy to see her like this. Though she was still definite in her plans to bring down the Council of Nine together with Michael, she had a lighter air about her.

“And you believe him?” Jack asked, not wanting to mar her happiness but having to keep it professional, which sometimes mean asking the pessimistic questions.

“Yes, I trust him fully,” Peggy said, “I know that I am prejudiced when it comes to my brother, but if he wanted to hurt us he could easily have done it last night by calling us out at the Arena Club.”

“True…” Jack said, thinking about it before saying, “Okay, if he can be our way in, let’s use the open door instead of climbing through a closed window.”

Daniel looked amused at him; “Sometimes you say the weirdest things…. Well, you say weird things all the time actually.”

They laughed and had a surprisingly nice morning together. When they had finished their breakfast, Jack and O’Neill left the table and Mr. Jarvis went to do the dishes, leaving Peggy and Daniel alone in the dining room.

A part of Peggy wanted to get closer to him, as they had been in his office not too long ago, but someone else popped into her mind, making her want to get as far away as possible.

“Peggy?” Daniel asked, bringing her out of her thoughts, “There’s something I want to… Well, not want to, but have to ask you.”

Peggy felt a cold hand grab her insides, and yet she felt an odd sense of relief.

“Yesterday, during the mission… At some point, Jack asked you to trust him… And… It sounded like… I don’t want to sound like a jealous idiot, but… And then you told him to remove your lipstick, and I guess it wasn’t from your own lips,” Daniel found it hard to find the words, scratching the back of his head nervously.

Peggy felt her heart sink, not wanting to hurt Daniel’s feelings. Yet, she feared that it might already be too late.

“We were about to get caught. The only credible story we could make up was that we had left the party to be alone. So, we kissed to keep out cover,” She explained, trying to keep it as factual as possible.

She could see how Daniel’s heart started cracking even before he asked the question; “But it was only for the case?”

“Yes,” Peggy looked away, her body language giving her away despite her, technically, truthful answer.

“You can’t be serious, Peggy!” Daniel exclaimed a bit more harshly than intended, “Jack?”

“No… I don’t know, Daniel. I don’t know how I feel. Jack has always been such an arse, but lately….” She tried to explain but truthfully not knowing how she felt right now made it hard to say the right words.

Daniel did not want to say something that he would end up regretting, so he decided to leave Peggy before any words would slip pass his lips.

Peggy stood from the table and went to the window. She could not do this to Daniel. She had to fully commit or forever let him go. It felt as if her heart had been in one big turmoil since she came to Los Angeles. She had been so happy to see Daniel, and so disappointed to know that he was already seeing someone else, and soon after becoming engaged. At the same time, she had had feelings or at least desires for Dr Wilkes. But the Isodyne case killed that off as quickly as it had started. And then she had pretty much jumped Daniel in his office, finally kissing him as she had longed to. And now, she could not get Jack out of her mind. She could not help herself as she let a small laugh out into the morning light. Before L.A., men had barely crossed her mind as Steve had still filled her heart.

Thinking about it, Dr Wilkes was kind of a polished version of Jack. He had a similar confidence, cheekiness and charm – She remembered how he had given her his private number and taken her to the swing club before telling her about zero matter. He was just nicer and more respectful, kind of like Daniel. Maybe she should go back to Dr Wilkes, as he could seemingly cover both the other men.

But maybe that was the issue. She had already concluded that she did not want both, but she had not concluded which of the two she wanted.

She tried to listen to the silence of the dinner room. Tried to listen to herself. _What is it that I want? I have to make a choice, and it would be nice if it was the right one._

She suddenly thought back to her musical dream. Her subconscious had tried to tell her, hadn’t it? _They are both a nice distraction_. Maybe a distraction from the only thing that her subconscious had not included in her dream. The one thing that her pride could not let her admit.

Jack had started out as an outright arsehole. Letting her do all the filing that he felt too important to do, making her take coffee and lunch orders and coming up with ever more creative insults towards her. Still, he possessed qualities that she had to respect; he was a good agent, determent, deep down a good man and a good friend. Their line of business did not make it easy to be kind towards others. She herself had to shelter herself against the harshness of the life as an agent, plus the added hindrances that she experienced due to being a woman.

Yet, he had opened up to her, telling her his worst secret. And she had told him about things that she never had told anyone else. They had shared a kind of intimacy that she had not shared with any man since Steve, though only for short periods of time. The short moments where they had been alone without a case to distract them. Where they had just been ordinary people.

Honestly, the problem was her pride. She felt as if she deserved better than Jack. She deserved Daniel. A good man who had respected her from day one. So why was her heart betraying her like this? Was it even her heart? Maybe she was just confused by the whole situation. They had just done their job when they had shared a kiss. But the way he had looked at her when he had pulled her close had made her heart flutter.

“Miss Carter?” Mr. Jarvis brought her out of her thoughts, and she turned to look at him, “Are you alright?”

“Yes, Mr. Jarvis,” Came the automatic reply.

Mr. Jarvis looked at her, obviously knowing that she was lying.


	18. Come as You Are

The day past by slowly. Mr. Jarvis had left to take care of some business on behalf of Howard, so the agents were left alone in the amazing apartment. It felt like everyone was avoiding each other at this point. Daniel was in his room and Jack had gone for a walk. Peggy sat on the roof terrace together with O’Neill. She tried reading the book that she had started when looking after Jack in the hospital, but she kept reading the same sentence over and over again or caught herself staring into the colourful flower beds. She had never felt this parted from her colleagues, and it was all because of her and her stupid undecided feelings.

“Agent Carter?”

“Yes, Agent O’Neill?”

“I hope I am not overstepping my boundaries, but I wanted to say that I think what you are doing is very impressive,” O’Neill said shyly.

“Because I am a woman?” Peggy snapped back, knowing where this was normally going.

“No. Yes! No!” O’Neill panicked but then took a breath, “What I mean is ‘no’, because I know that women can be just as capable as men – My mom took care of me and my siblings on her own, and I like to think that we turned out alright – But yes, because not everyone else realise that, so you have gone against all the odds and done very well. I just wanted you to know that you have my full support.”

Peggy did not know what to say. She barely knew this man, and yet he kept declaring his devotion to her and Daniel and the SSR. He had followed them to D.C. just because they said so, asking a minimum of questions.

She suddenly realised why he was fighting so hard to pledge his loyalty in any way he could. He had never been to war. He had not seen or experienced what they had. The massacres of your fellow soldiers, being stabbed in the back – sometime literally – by people you thought you could trust and the loss of friends and family.

And worst of all, he thought that he had missed out on something. That he was not going to have the opportunity to prove himself as the soldiers had.

“Agent O’Neill, what is your first name?”

“Peter,” he answered surprised by her question.

She turned to look him in the eye.

“Peter, trust me when I say that what you are doing with the SSR is just as important as what others did during the war. Maybe even more important. Moving a world from fear and hatred to a place of peace is a much more important job than participating in warfare.”

O’Neill nodded slowly before getting up from his seat, avoiding eye contact, clearly moved by her words but not wanting to show it.

“Thank you, Agent Carter,” and then he left her alone on the terrace.

Peggy sat back, thinking about her own words. She realised that she herself had not completely left the war mindset behind. It was a nice thought though, to work for peace. She wished that she could do more of that.


	19. Separate Chambers of the Human Heart

Peggy sat in her room, having given up on reading her book on the terrace. There was a knock on her door, and she called out to let whoever it was in.

The door swung open, and her very best friend in the world stood in front of her, a big smile on her face; “Hi English!”

“Angie!?” Peggy exclaimed with surprise, instantly feeling how much she had missed her friend, “It is so good to see you!”

Peggy could not help herself as she leapt forward and hugged her friend; “What are you doing here?”

“Mr. Jarvis called and offered me a trip to D.C. Now, how could I turn that down?” Angie explained with a smile.

That sneaky butler, Peggy thought, knowing very well why he had called Angie.

When they parted from the hug, they looked at each other. Now standing closer, Angie could see that Peggy was carrying some sadness in her eyes that was eating her up. She recognised the look from before she knew that Peggy was an agent, and Peggy would come to the Automat with a haunted look in her eyes, having something she wished she could share but obviously could not.

“How about the two of us take a drink to celebrate me being here?” Angie asked, her smile still in place.

She then dug into a bag that she had left by the door and took out her bottle of schnapps.

“The rhubarb pie couldn’t come on the trip, but I got this!” She exclaimed happily.

Peggy had never been a fan of schnapps, but she could not think of a more perfect drink for them to enjoy at this very moment.

Angie pulled at Peggy’s arm to drag her to the small sofa by the window.

“Was L.A. as amazing as this place? I bet the weather was better. Did you have a pool?” Angie asked as she poured the drinks in some glasses meant for the bottle of bourbon that Mr. Jarvis had supplied with the room.

“Yes, it was quite hot, but it is a dry heat. And yes, Howard did have a pool - And a flamingo!” Peggy told her friend, seeing Angie’s eyes growing wide by the mentioning of the exotic bird.

Peggy gave a small laugh at her childlike behaviour. Her friendship with Angie was sometimes a surprise to her, as Angie was the complete opposite of herself, or maybe she was a like of a younger version of Peggy that she loved to hold on to.

“That sounds amazing!” Angie said as she took a sip of her schnapps, looking up at Peggy while drinking to evaluate her state of mind, “So why are you so sad then?”

“What do you mean?” Peggy asked perplexed.

“Don’t try to deny it, something is clearly up with you. I know that you can’t tell me all about your work, but you can’t carry it all by yourself either,” Angie’s eyes drilled into Peggy’s.

Peggy sighed, the weight of her inner turmoil rushing over her, and she did not have the energy to come up with a lie.

“Angie… I do not know where to start,” Peggy sighed and took a sip of her drink to clear her head.

“Make the story short and the point precise,” Angie said, waving a finger in the air as if it is was a magic wand with the answer to everything.

“Story short... During my first case in Los Angeles, Daniel and I got… closer…” Peggy started.

“Oh my GOSH! Peggy, I am so happy for you!” Angie jumped to conclusions.

“Yes, it is very nice,” Peggy could not hide a smile at the thought of her and Daniel. However, Angie caught on to the hint of melancholy in her voice.

“But not all nice?” Angie asked.

“Well, uhm, this thing happened, where I went on a mission with Chief Thompson, and we…” Peggy was trying to be forward, but saying it out loud seemed to make it worse, as she feared how Angie would react, though not knowing which reaction she should be hoping for.

“Oh, Peggy, you didn’t…,” Angie said, again jumping to conclusions, not hiding her disappointment in that particular conclusion.

“No! No, not that!” Peggy exclaimed and quickly explained, “We had to come up with something in order not to get caught, so we kissed – pretending to be a couple accidently in the wrong place. Nothing more!”

“Ah…” Angie said, thankful that her first assumption had been wrong.

For a moment, silence filled the room, both women drinking from their respective drinks and thinking about the words that they had just shared.

But then Angie realised that she had not even heard the details of the problem and said; “But, what’s the problem then? Sounds perfectly innocent to me.”

Peggy looked away, not sure how to explain what she was feeling. Luckily, Angie could also jump to the right conclusions.

“Oh, Peggy. You felt something, didn’t you? When you kissed Thompson? A bit of butterflies and fireworks, huh?”

“I don’t know what I felt. But it was something, and it was different from what I feel with Daniel. And before that, Chief Thompson and I have had some talks, where he was being kind of nice. And now I can hardly think of anything else despite this case – And I have uncovered something very personal and big, which I cannot tell you yet as the case is ongoing – but it has pulled the rug out from under me, so that is also mixed up with all these other feelings, and I feel like I cannot feel myself anymore because of it all. I only know that Daniel is a good man and I do not want to hurt him and he deserves better than this,” Peggy started rambling, and she only stopped when she felt tears filling in her eyes from all her inner frustrations.

“And Thompson isn’t a good man?” Angie asked carefully.

“He is a good man, but he is also a condescending arsehole,” Peggy answered with a small laugh which Angie just smiled knowingly at.

“Does Thompson have feelings for you?” Angie asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so,” Peggy said with a resigning laugh, “We have not talked about that night. There is just something about him that has changed, something in his eyes…”

“Peggy…” Angie sighed, starting to realise Peggy’s problem. It was not just a choice between two men but between two sets of values and the fear of not being loved in returned if she gave up the safety of her newly found potential love, “I cannot tell you what is right for you. But I do know that what is the best for you, is not always the same as what you need. Sometimes, you need something that kicks you in the bum to make you get back into gear, or something that holds your hand even when you don’t want it to. And even though it feels wrong at the time, it’s exactly what you needed. So, you need to figure out what you need, not what is right.”

Peggy could not help herself anymore and let the tears stream down her face in silence. She felt as if she was betraying herself. Daniel was such a good man. He was everything that she felt that she deserved. But she had to admit that even though he made her happy – very happy – he did not excite her. Something about the way that Jack Thompson could make her blood boil with anger or defiance made her feel more alive than the soothing peace that Daniel gave her.

Angie leant towards her friend and put her arm around her shoulders, giving her a sideways hug while putting her head on Peggy’s shoulder; “Don’t overthink it, English. If your head thinks too loud, you won’t be able to hear your heart.”


	20. What Sober Couldn't Say

The bottle had been full when Angie arrived. A couple of hours later, that was far from the case. Even though Mr. Jarvis had brought them some dinner to take the edge of the alcohol, it had done little good. Especially for the lightweight Angie. In the end, Peggy had picked her up by the arm and guided her to her bedroom and instructed her to get some rest. Angie had not agreed to end the evening so soon but when she finally laid down, she found it too difficult to get back up.

Peggy held her schnapps better than Angie but still found the floor a bit out of balance when she walked back to her room. As she came by the living room, she heard the light clattering of glass. She looked into the room and saw Jack taking advantage of Howard’s fine liquor cabinet.

“Drinking by yourself?” She asked.

“That depends on how you define ‘by yourself’. Alone in the room? Yes, I’m by myself. Able to hear Miss Martinelli’s every outburst as clear as day? No, I am far, far from by myself.” Jack smiled at her, his eyebrows raised mockingly.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realise that we were so loud.”

“No problem,” He offered her a bourbon which she gladly accepted to get rid of the taste of the schnapps, “It was nice hearing you laugh.”

He said it with his new-found level of sincerity that automatically brought a smile to her face.

She sat next to him and they enjoyed the comfortable silence with each other.

“Jack?” She finally asked.

“Hm?”

“How do you feel about what happened?”

Despite the many events of the last week he knew exactly which one she was talking about, yet to buy time he asked; “Feel about what?”

“Don’t play dumb.”

“It was just business,” He said too quickly, avoiding eye contact while taking a large sip of his bourbon.

Peggy thought about forcing the issue, but she didn’t want it to end in a fight.

“Okay…” She finished her drink and stood to leave, but with her back turned to him she chose to say; “I just haven’t been able to get it off my mind. I just wondered if maybe you felt the same way.”

She started walking out, when Jack’s voice stopped her; ”Really?”

She turned to find him standing, as if ready to go after her.

“Yes,” She stated honestly.

“Me too,” He admitted, looking at her without flinching.

They both stood there with a small, knowing smile on their faces. Jack wanted nothing more than to move closer to the incredible woman in front of her, and he could see that she wanted the same. But they had both had a bit too much to drink to make such a decision right now. Instead he walked slowly forward and gently stroked her chin, the corner of his mouth twisting upwards as she leant slightly into his touch. He let his hand fall back down and stepped away again.

“’Night Peggy.”

“Goodnight Jack.”


	21. Nothing Left to Lose

They all woke early to the sound of the gramophone playing too loud and too upbeat jazz for that early in the morning.

When Peggy came into the dining room, she found Howard leaning back in his chair, enjoying breakfast with his feet resting on the table.

“Good morning Peggy! You look beautiful in the morning!” He exclaimed over the loud music.

Peggy went straight to the music player and pulled the needle from the record.

“Spoilsport,” Howard mumbled and continued his breakfast.

Mr. Jarvis entered the room with additional breakfast for Peggy and the other agents.

“Good morning, Miss Carter. I overheard Miss Martinelli…. Feeling a bit unwell after last night’s reunion so I brought her breakfast in bed,” He stated while setting the table.

Soon after they were joined by Daniel, Jack and Peter, who all three looked ready to commit murder of a certain so-called genius.

“What brings you here, Mr. Stark?” Daniel asked instead.

“Jarvis told me that you might need me in the near future, so I decided to bring you some new toys.”

“New toys?” Peggy asked, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

“Yes,” He put down his breakfast to raise his hands in dramatic effect, “Imagine how much easier it would be to interrogate bad guys if they didn’t die when you shot them. Remember that neat little fishing net you borrowed to pick up Ida? I have made a more compact version of it. You shoot at someone, a small electrically charged bullet attaches to their skin and they drop on the floor, but are perfectly capable of being interrogated just an hour later.”

Howard leant back in his chair, arms behind his head in triumph.

“That does sound pretty good,” O’Neill said carefully.

“Have you tested it yet?” Peggy asked pointedly.

Howard’s smile faded a bit as he admitted; “Well, I am still adjusting the electrical charge.”

Before Peggy could scold him, there was a knock on the doorframe of the open dining room doorway. They all turned to see Michael standing there, all the agents surprised that they had not heard him.

“Who are you?” Howard asked defensively.

“That’s my brother, Michael,” Peggy said happily.

“Your brother? Your dead brother?”

“Yes, except that I am alive,” Michael answered with a small smile, and allowed himself to take a seat at the table.

“Did your superiors agree to my plan?” Peggy asked, getting straight to business.

“They did,” Michael said happily, “Though they were a bit reluctant at first, they admitted that they could not let the Council keep on growing.”

“Good,” Peggy stated, not completely able to hide her satisfaction, “Now, you wouldn’t happen to know their next meeting?”

“Of course, Agent Carter,” Michael mocked, “It just so happens that there will be a meeting tonight. My superiors want you to arrange a raid and bring in the nine big bosses plus their muscles.”

“When will they meet?” Peggy asked.

“At seven, and they are always very precise.”

“So, we just need a couple of more agents, and the cat is in the bag!” Jack said smugly.

“No, we need to do one better,” Peggy said, suddenly deep in thought.

“What?” Daniel asked.

“Michael, how many offices of the Council of Nine do you know of?”

“23,” Came the careful answer.

“That many?” Peter could not help to exclaim.

“We can’t stop that many, Peggy,” Daniel said, “We don’t even know when all of them will meet, if ever!”

She looked sternly at him; “We have to stop as many as possible. Remember, the Council comes from HYDRA. Cut off one head, two more shall take its place. We need to cut off as many heads as possible to make it harder to replace.”

“How?” Jack asked curiously.

“We are the SSR, are we not?” Peggy asked with a smug smile of her own. She quickly downed her tea before standing up, “I will make a few calls.”


	22. Police Bells and Church Sirens

It was a nice, clear evening. Hugh Jones strolled through the front doors of the Arena Club. The doorman eyed his pin in the breast pocket of his jacket, giving him an approving nod as he entered.

A police car passed by on the street at high speed and the sirens echoed in the street. It always sent chills down his spine when he saw or heard a police car this close. Though he knew that he was all right, being protected by the Council, he never lost his survival instinct, telling him to never trust the Council fully and to always check if the sirens came towards him.

He looked at his watch, only five minutes until the meeting was to start. It was supposed to only be a regular meeting, but things changed too fast these days. Just two hours ago, Howard Stark had announced his latest invention: The Zero Matter Energy Generator. The generator would make him able to provide clean energy for the entire world, cost free.

It had to be a trick. He could not believe that that little maggot could have done it. Whitney Frost was brilliant, but even she had not been able to transfer zero matter into a usable energy source or any other kind of usable invention. Yet, Stark had announced the news and demonstrated it to all major radio stations and newspapers by running his New York facilities on the new clean energy source, and just an hour later all respectable newspapers had special editions floating the streets, both with the story and their concern regarding how this ‘zero matter’ thing could be used for weapons and similar ‘bad’ intentions.

The Council had been furious. Providing clean, free energy for the entire world would make the world too… peaceful. A divided world was much easier to rule. Especially for an owner of a refinery as himself. He, along with other businessmen, had insisted on an emergency meeting for all the Councils.

As he entered the Council Chambers, he found his fellow members already waiting at the U-shaped table. Most Councils only consisted of nine members as the original Council had, including his own primary office in L.A., but the main Council of D.C. was open to all members during visits, and because of the events of the day, there was now 31 members collected in the Chambers, thus leaving him a chair by the wall instead of at the main table. The wall opposite from the entrance door was covered in screens, flickering with white noise.

They all sat in respectful silence, though the air was thick with desperation. When he caught the eye of a fellow Council member, he would typically see raised eyebrows of frustrations, hands rubbing thighs with nervous energy or men ready to jump into action as soon as the word was given free to the members.

The moment the clock on the wall started its seven light strokes, the Council President stood from his seat. Jones admired him a lot. He was the Vice President of the United States, William Murdock, and he was renounced throughout the Councils of the world for the position he had gained in the United States - with support from the Council of course - but still it was impressive and a valuable position for the organization.

Murdock greeted them with a nod before turning to the screens behind him. They turned on quickly, one after the other, until they were in contact with all the other Councils. All over the world, fellow businessmen, politicians and otherwise influential men sat gathered to discuss the latest issue presented by Howard Stark.

Though Jones despised the man, he began to think that it would be easier to accept Stark’s demand to introduce women to the Arena Club and have him join the Council instead of having him coming up with one invention after the other to make their lives difficult.

Murdock turned towards his own table of Council Members and opened his mouth to speak to them. However, his words were replaced by a surprised gasp, as he discovered the brunette standing by the door with her arms crossed. Making everyone in the room turn to look at what had caught Murdock’s attention. Some stood up in surprise, others started scolding her for being in the room.

Despite her face being partially covered by a strikingly red hat, Jones immediately recognized her and went towards her to catch her and call security before she could do any damage. Instead, he received a right hook and found a new seat on the floor. This made the other men take a step back from the mysterious woman.

“Mr. Vice President Murdock,” She greeted loud and clearly to make herself heard above the shocked men, “Agent Carter with the SRR. You are all under arrest.”

“Hah, you and what army?” An old geezer snarled from his seat.

Before the men could react to the truth of her being seriously outnumbered, the door was abruptly opened behind her, and Jack and Daniel together with ten other agents entered the room with the Council security staff in handcuffs.

“You-” Murdock started to threaten her, but Peggy cut him off.

“Turn around, Mr. Murdock.”

Murdock turned reluctantly towards the screens behind him, only to find multiple of the locations on the screens in the same situation as himself.

“Agent Carter, L.A. Chambers secured,” O’Neill stated through one of the screens.

“London Chambers secured,” Agent Edwards stated from another.

“N.Y. Office secured.” Agent Ramirez stated.

“Hello Miss Union Jack!” A waving Dum-Dum Dugan stated from Moscow.

“Oh, Peggy is so going to kick your ass next time, Dum-Dum,” Happy Sam Sawyer answered from Berlin.

“At least I didn’t come up with that name,” A relieved Pinky Pinkerton sounded from Paris.

Peggy proudly watched fellow agents and allies on the screens as they secured their locations and arrested the council members all over the world. She felt a hand on her shoulder and heard the low whisper of Colonel Philips: “Well done, Peggy. He would have been proud.”

Unfortunately, not all screens were met with familiar faces, as not all offices had been reached in time. Business men scattered on multiple screens, screens being destroyed to protect the identities of the members of that specific location.

“We didn’t get them all,” She stated disappointedly.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m not retiring yet,” Philips answered and left her to help her colleagues guide the businessmen from the Chamber.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Peggy gave the Vice President a firm push into the Black Maria where they were collecting the catch of the day.

“You will not get away with this!” Murdock screamed in fury, “We will be out of here before you know it!”

“And I will be right here to put you back in again,” Peggy answered confidently, earning a glance that would probably have resulted in her death, if looks could kill.

Peggy stood and proudly watched the SSR cars leaving with agents and prisoners. She turned to find Daniel, Jack, Howard and Mr. Jarvis waiting by yet another of Howard’s fancy cars.

“Good work, Carter,” Jack said with a smile.

“Yes, really good job,” Daniel concurred.

“You did it, Peggy, _again_ ” Howard said, emphasising ‘again’ for the sake of her colleagues.

“Yes, it was very clever to use the story of the zero matter to lure them out,” Mr. Jarvis said.

“Yeah… How do you think the world will react when they realise that it was all made up? I expect that you will be making another grand speech about my great sacrifices for the SSR,” Howard said, aimed at Jack who responded by tiredly rubbing his eyes at the thought.

“Well, let’s go get a drink! We should celebrate!” Howard started inviting everyone in sight, especially the ladies who passed by, attracted by the commotion, as the SSR had a lack of possible female party participants.

Peggy turned to find the only person she wished to celebrate with. Michael stood right behind her, with a proud smile on his face.

“We did it,” Peggy said.

Michael answered just by laughing with relief, and suddenly grabbing his sister around her waist and lifting her in the air out of joy, ignoring her surprised cries.

“Finally free, Pegs!” He yelled.

Peggy forgot everything about being embarrassed to be lifted and hugged by her brother in front of her colleagues and instead rejoiced in having found her brother and no longer having to keep it a secret.

“Mr. Jarvis! Go fetch Miss Martinelli! We need more women for this party! Thompson, Sousa, you have to hire more female agents, this will simply not do!”


	23. Goodbye, Hello

It had been quite the party. Peggy could not remember the last time she had felt so relieved of sorrow and responsibility. She had more than proofed her worth. She had been treated as an equal, even as a boss, without any fuss. Of course, she had been surrounded by her friends – Yes, she now considered them all more than colleagues – but she was still not used to being respected like this by this many men. A lot of Colonel Philips’ SRR agents had joined as well, probably eager to participate in a party of Howard Stark’s, and even they had given her well-deserved credit, though some more reluctantly than others.

Now she sat in the living room with her brother, alive and well, though lightly hungover.

“What now, Peggy?” He asked.

“Well, I think I deserve some vacation by now,” She smiled back.

“That sounds perfect. I was thinking something along the same lines,” Michael smiled back at her.

“You are back from the dead. What do you want to do?” She asked.

“What all dead men want. To go home,” He answered with a peaceful look in his eyes as he added, “Come with me?”

Peggy considered it for a moment. Going back home. But it took no longer than a moment to both consider the offer and reject it; “I’m not moving back home. Believe it or not, these Yankees need someone to look after them.”

Michael didn’t argue. He knew his sister too well, even after all these years. He knew that she had to be in the eye of the hurricane to thrive.

“At least come for a bit of vacation then,” Michael said.

“I will. I just need to help close this case and I will be right with you again.”

“Good. I also have to close things up with MI5 first, so it will not be much of a holiday for the first week back home. So, come in a week or two, then I will be able to make my revival official, and then let’s go see mother and father again. I have missed them so much.”

Peggy could see how moved her brother was to finally be able to see them all again.

“Mother will be so cross with you,” She said, earning another laugh from her brother, making her laugh as well. She knew how much power his death had had over her. She never realised how much power his life had had too.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Daniel finally caught Peggy alone. She had almost been inseparable from her brother since yesterday’s arrest. He had read about a brother in her file, but he had never thought more about it. There had not been any details, not even a name – Now he knew why. So many had lost family in the war, it had been nothing special. Not compared to the rest of her file.

She turned to look at him, sending him a peaceful smile. He could not remember having seen her like this before.

“I’m ready to go back home,” He said, not beating about the bush, “Are you coming?”

“No, I am not. I am sorry, Daniel.” She said sincerely.

He nodded, already prepared for her response, though still having hoped for a different answer.

Peggy stood and went to him.

“I want you to know that I care about you deeply. And I didn’t do any of this to hurt you. You are a very good man and you deserve to find someone as good and loving as you,” She said.

“And you don’t think that you are good and loving?” He asked, challenging her compliments.

“Yes, but you know what I mean.” She said.

And he did.

“So, I will be leaving then. See you, Peggy,” He said quickly, needing to get away.

“Goodbye, Daniel.”

-.-.-.-.-.-

Peggy knocked on the door and waited to be allowed to enter. When she opened the door, she found Jack packing his suitcase.

“Please tell me that you are not here to shoot me,” He said with a smile.

“Well, you did as Peggy said, so I guess you are off the hook,” She answered, smiling back.

“Good. I was afraid for a moment that you were one of those girls who do everything their brothers do,” He closed his suitcase, “Well, I guess you are here to say goodbye. Sunny California is waiting. I guess you want some of that holiday that you have been talking about.”

“Actually, Howard is taking me home,” She said.

“England?” Jack asked surprised.

“New York.”

Jack stopped in his movements, just looking at her; “You are coming back to New York?”

“Yes.”

Jack smiled and couldn’t stop himself as he went to her and kissed her, and happy to find her kissing him back. When they finally needed air, they pulled away from each other, looking into each other’s eyes happily.

“You are going to be quite a handful, aren’t you?” He asked teasingly.

“When have I not been?”


	24. We Could Be Heroes

Peggy sat on the sunbed next to Howard, accepting the drink he had made for her. The view from the roof terrace was even more beautiful today.

“You know, I have some of those bikinis in one of the guest rooms. You know, for emergencies. So, if you feel like…”

“Thank you, Howard, but no thank you,” Peggy cut him off sternly, though her eyes smiled.

There was a moment of silence between them. Silence was so rare to her, so she fully took in the shimmer of the sun, the tweeting of the birds and the colourful flowers placed on the terrace as contrast to the concrete flagstones. She sipped her bourbon with great pleasure, for once enjoying that the drink was helping celebrate happiness instead of drowning sorrow.

However, as usual, the silence did not last for long, and the disturbance brought changes with it that she could never had imagined.

“Do you think the SSR is enough?” Howard asked.

Peggy looked away from the scenery in front of her to look at her friend, her eye brows lightly frowning with puzzlement.

“What do you mean?” She answered with a question.

“Is it enough to deal with all these secret organisations and stuff?” He clarified.

“And stuff?” Peggy asked, one of her eyebrows now raised in light amusement by the fluffy term for the manipulating and murderous organisations they had encountered. She looked at Howard as he emptied his drink, and realised that something was clearly bothering him, “Howard, what are you getting at?”

He turned in the sunbed, facing her. He removed his sunglasses to look her directly in the eye.

“I mean, we are discovering more and more organisations and groups and assassins out there with their own crazy agendas – some against the SSR, some against the US, some against the entire world. And that’s just the problem. This is not just about the US or the Allies or whatever. This is about the world. This is about everyone.”

Peggy did not move, but as his words sank in she felt a cold hand grab her stomach and twist it around. She imagined the entire world. How big it was. How many people. How vulnerable. How much she had built for herself the last couple of years after the war. What she had built just this week. How much she had to lose. Who she had to lose. Some for a second time.

Clearly restless by what was on his mind, Howard sat up straight, still facing her. He put his hands flat against each other and pointed them at her, as if he was praying to her.

“I’ve been thinking, Peggy. The SSR is not enough. Not even with you on the team,” He slipped in the compliment, and the two friends shared a smile, both of gratitude towards the other, “We need something bigger. Something that embraces the entire world. Something on such a high level that it doesn’t even exist. Not unless its needed.”

Peggy felt her heart beating faster as Howard got more and more excited by his own idea. His vision was forming in her head. Something grand, something bigger than anything she had ever seen and something that maybe, just maybe, could keep the world from ever seeing war again like what she had experienced. Something fighting for peace. The cold hand lost its grip as hope stepped on it and sent excitement rushing through her veins.

“Peggy, I want to make this happen. I want to use this brilliant head of mine to make the world better. I want to shield this world, and protect it from all these crazy people. But I can’t do it alone and it will take a lot of time and effort to just to get it started.”

Howard stared at Peggy, and she stared back. He could clearly see that she was just as excited by the idea as he was as a small confident smile formed on her face as he spoke.

“Peggy, I need someone I can fully trust to help me build this. I need you,” He held a breath for a moment, then smiled at her and spread his hands in a grand gesture as he asked; “Will you help me build a shield for the world?”

Peggy smiled back at him.

“When do we start?”


	25. Afterword

So, hereby a few of my thoughts about this fanfiction.

  1. Jack’s quick healing: Well, Peggy was pieced by an iron bar and kept going, and after a couple of episodes she seemed back to her normal amazing self. Jack is kickass too, so he only takes a few chapters to be okay as well. Plus, we can’t just have him laying in a bed for all the story, he needs to be part of the action – leading to point 2 ->
  2. Jack and Peggy: I have always thought that Peggy and Jack have an amazing chemistry. My honest opinion is that Daniel is the ideal man for pretty much anyone, but he is also the boring choice. And Peggy do not do boring. Plus, I always felt that Daniel was more captivated by her instead of being actually in love with her. I think Peggy needs someone who can keep her on her toes, which I think Jack would do perfectly. That is also what I try to express through Angie’s speak about the imperfect perfect love. But, unfortunately, I don’t think Peggy actually ends up with Jack as I cannot make the timelines fit with him being both in Okinawa and Germany in 1945. But in this case, I chose to follow the wise philosophy of “rejecting reality and substituting my own”.
  3. Michael: Besides trying to make up a decent plot for the story, figuring out what to do about Michael was the most difficult part about writing this fic. I have always supported the theory that the file was about Michael and not Peggy. So, what to do about the file and Michael? I could not have Michael be dead and having been involved in a massacre. It just did not feel right. Then the file could be a fake, but why have a fake file on a dead man? It could be a fake file about Peggy, but would that really be worth killing for? Therefore, I ended up with Michael being alive and doing the heroic thing of protecting his family by pretending to be dead.
  4. Dottie Underwood: If this had been the real story ending, no doubt she would have been in it. However, I found it a bit hard to include her without forcing it. I thought about her appearing at the Arena Club, since she had already gone after it in the second season but then what? So, to focus on the story line, she is still out there, waiting, scheming against Peggy and the upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D.
  5. Zodiac: I, more or less, ignored the whole story about Peggy and the Zodiac, and chose to imply her starting S.H.I.E.L.D. with Howard instead (Though I choose to take the Zodiac story as a sign of Peggy ending up with Jack instead of Daniel (why else move back to NY? Maybe she worked in the Brooklyn office in order not to work for her boyfriend – Here’s to hoping!)). But I guess it takes time to build a new organisation and Peggy would need a job until S.H.I.E.L.D. was ready, so maybe it is not completely impossible for these two stories to fit with each other.
  6. Vice President of the United States: There was none from 1945-1949 (Thank you, Wikipedia). However, I decided to keep using the Vice President as the Council President in order not to offend any real-life persons by making them the bad guy of the story. Plus, it really helps emphasising how deep the Council has infiltrated the US.
  7. Ending: I wish that I had the ability to write an action-packed ending worthy of Peggy Carter, but I admit that I do not. So, I stuck with Peggy using her wits and her connections, and to have a small reunion of some of the beloved characters of the story.



I will leave it at that. Thank you very much for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for all your fantastic stories out there! 

**Bonus info** : Credit and appreciation to the artists who inspired my chapter titles. I have put a * by titles where the entire song was a source of inspiration for me. If you like, you can listen to the song to get a deeper meaning of the chapter.

 _Chapter 1: No Rest for the Wicked_ / S03E16 Episode Title of ‘Supernatural’

 _Chapter 2: The Longest Day_ / ‘The Longest Day’ by Full Blown Rose

 _Chapter 3: All Night Doctors_ / ‘All Night Doctors’ by Bush

 _Chapter 4: Shall We Be Grateful_ / ‘Shall We Be Grateful’ by Carpark North

 _Chapter 5: Something from Nothing_ / ‘Something from Nothing’ by Aura

 _Chapter 6: Human_ / ‘Human’ by Carpark North

 _Chapter 7: Simple Man_ / ‘Simple Man’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd

 _Chapter 8: Save Tonight_ / ‘Save Tonight’ by Eagle-Eye Cherry

 _Chapter 9: Keep Up_ / My own!

 _Chapter 10: Battle Born_ / ‘Battle Born’ by Five Finger Death Punch

 _Chapter 11: Going Under_ / ‘Going Under’ by Evanescence

 _Chapter 12: Lifestyle of the Rich and the Famous_ / ‘Lifestyle of the Rich & Famous’ by Good Charlotte

 _Chapter 13: Secret Door_ / ‘Secret Door’ by Evanescence

 _Chapter 14: Black Swan_ / S04E13 Episode Title of ‘Numb3rs’ *

 _Chapter 15: Misery Loves My Company_ / ‘Misery Loves My Company’ by Three Days Grace

 _Chapter 16: From the Inside_ / ‘From the Inside’ by Linkin Park

 _Chapter 17: So Close_ / ‘So Close’ by Jon McLaughlin *

 _Chapter 18: Come as You Are_ / ‘Come as You Are’ by Nirvana

 _Chapter 19: Separate Chambers of the Human Heart_ / ‘Burning in the Skies’ by Linkin Park

 _Chapter 20: What Sober Couldn’t Say_ / ‘What Sober Couldn’t’ by Say Halestorm

 _Chapter 21: Nothing Left to lose_ / ‘Nothing Left to Lose’ by The Pretty Reckless

 _Chapter 22: Police Bells and Church Sirens_ / ‘Police Bells and Church Sirens’ by Nephew

 _Chapter 23: Goodbye, Hello_ / ‘Hello, Goodbye’ by The Beatles

 _Chapter 24: We Could Be Heroes_ / ‘Unstoppable’ by The Score *


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